Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
AYLSHAM, England — A liberal arts graduate in England has found a job he never expected: working as a human scarecrow.
Jamie Fox, 22, studied music and English at Bangor University, but faced a lack of career opportunities when he graduated. He is now spending the fall in the fields, flapping his arms at partridges and passing time by playing the ukelele and sketching.
Fox has come to be known as "the human scarecrow," and despite the dead-end nature of the job, he said he is grateful for the opportunity.
"This is much better than being at home on unemployment benefit," he told the Guardian. "If I'm reading a book or playing an instrument, time passes and there are moments that are fantastic."
Fox earns 250 pounds a week — about $400 — to police a 10-acre field for eight hours a day, according to Sky News.
Farmer William Youngs said he employed Fox because other methods were not keeping partridges away from his field of oilseed rape.
"Jamie's doing a good job," Youngs said. "You can really see the difference."
Fox's job led the UK band The Sharps, who are friends of his, to write a "cheeky" song in his honor. Fox is featured in the music video, which was shot in the field where Fox works.
"We've all been amazed just how far and wide the story has traveled — so much so our drummer, Sam, suggested we wrote a song about it," said Callum Morgan, lead singer and bassist in the band. "My twin brother Kieran and I hastily penned 'Human Scarecrow' from some lyrical ideas Sam suggested and we met with Jamie at the field later that day ... It's all a bit of fun really."
The stint is not permanent, and Fox does not wish it were, but he told the Independent he is using the time to figure out what he wants to do with his life.
"I don't want to be a scarecrow forever but it is giving me time to decide what I will do with my future," he said.
