A regular visitor.

Lovely capture Seaburngirl they are such fun to watch wild life. He has adopted his own territory your garden ?

Quite a spectacle!

We have two pheasant cocks who roost in the garden. One in the Leylandii tall hedge and the other in a tall fir tree. I always thought that there was only one, but late one night after dark there was a pheasant disturbed and calling way down the road, to be answered by the one in the front garden and a throaty complaint from the other in the tree!
A couple of days ago the Farmer was loading the sugar-beet in the field beside us until dark and the pheasant was standing on the drive, confused as he usually flies up into his roost from that field. Where he eventually went I have no idea! They are beautiful birds, a morning wake-up and even at night if you put the bedroom light on, you get an annoyed call from the hedge.

A lovely sight,Sbg..he obviously loves your garden,and at such a regular time too..clever bird :o)

Lovely birds aren't they? I hope you'll get some chicks in the spring!

One year a pheasant was dumped on our heathland. He made his way to our home. There he terrorised the postman, walkers with dogs, and attacked everyone and everything wearing red!

Seems he had been the terror at an hotel a few miles away but had been captured and released "in the wild".

Our neighbour accidentally ran over him in her car and buried him in her cottage garden. It really was an accident as she is a devout animal lover and she was very upset.

The postman was pleased!

Keep him safe till Feb 1st. That is when the pheasant shooting season ends. Funny, considering what we do for a living, I hate the idea of game shooting, I just can't tell our customers that.

He looks so proud strutting his stuff, I've always thought how handsome they are, why bother wandering the fields and lanes when he already knows where the best restaurant is...

How lucky. We have moorhens visiting us.

Such a lovely sight and great to hear that he is a daily visitor.
We too had a pheasant that came nearly every day and it was a shame when the visits ceased.

I've seen them around here but never in my garden. I'm glad you enjoy seeing it.

A lovely visitor, I can hear one in the trees behind our garden, but have only had one visit in over17 years, pity because I enjoy seeing them strutting around...

We also have a pheasant that visits by himself nearly every day and feasts below the main bird feeding station. We also have a ground feeder tray but had to buy a cover as the pheasant thought that it was just for him. It was 'funny' watching him try to poke his head through the cage trying to get the seeds. 18 months ago we has Mrs pheasant and 3 children to visit but didn't see them last year. Don't know if pheasants count in the BIG Garden Birdwatch ?

yes they do count as do gulls. we have regular herring gulls visiting.

its this weekend too.

glad you all like my flashy gentleman.

Beautiful sight but a melancholy memory for me as years ago I moved into a new house and as I was trying to get it in order so sleeping on a mattress inside the living room patio door. One of these beauties used come and knock on the glass every morning about six, take a good luck at me and my impoverished surroundings and toddle off about his business. He became a part of my limited family at the time, we developed a passing admiration for each other, each of us trying to find our way in the world. Then one morning he didn't turn up and I thought he was off duty, a little disappointed, a bit like missing a favourite acquaintance on the morning bus. On my way home from work I passed a local farmer, I expect, with a brace of pheasant on his shoulder and a broken shotgun at his hip, never saw my little friend anymore.

Sad I guess Taurman but at least he went as food rather than just squished on the roads.

He strolled in at 3.30 and squawked behind me. I nearly leapt out of my skin. there was no food in the feeders after the starlings paid a visit. As I'd been in the front garden weeding all day I hadn't noticed. I walked to the back garden to put tools in the shed. That's when he got me. :o)

I thought this would be amusing...here are the rules I must follow for hunting pheasant here in the US.

-Keep shots up, wait until you see blue sky, and the pheasant is at least 20 feet off the ground.
Hunt with safety on

-When you finish a field, take shells out of the guns.

-Hunting from trees is prohibited.

-Never shoot bird on the ground, as it is dangerous to dogs, or other hunters.

-Although the pheasant license includes small game, lodges will not want you to shoot anything on the ground.

-Many lodge owners will stop the hunt for the day (if you shoot a pheasant, or anything on the ground). Shooting game on the ground (with a shotgun) is often called ground pounding, and is always a bad idea.

-You should not shoot any birds other that pheasants. Even though hawks are predators to pheasants and pheasant eggs, they can not be shot at.

He is a fine fellow Sbg. We get regular visits from different pheasants in different parts of the garden. The local gamekeeper breeds them for the shoots which is part of their income but it disgusts me that those hand reared birds are then chucked out to be frightened out of their wits by the beaters trying to shoo them in to flight so that the 'sportsmen' can take pop shots at them. It would be hard to miss a bird since the 'bullets' have lots of shot which is why the birds arrive on the dinner table with a warning to mind the pellets. I was coming home in the bus one day. The bus driver hit a big cock pheasant which jumped out of the hedge right in front of the bus. The quick witted driver jumped out and picked up the apparently dead bird and stowed it behind his drivers seat. A couple of miles later the bird came to his senses and strode into the aisle. The bus was in an uproar and the poor driver was shocked. He opened the door and the bird got off. He took a lot of ribbing on subsequent journeys because drivers tended to be on a specific route for years and got to know his passengers.

That made me laugh Scotsgran. Did you ever read Roald Dahl's story about some pheasant poachers who fed pheasants alcohol soaked raisins and collected them into a couple of sacks when they fell drunk off their perches? Nemesis struck when they all recovered in the morning and escaped the sacks in full view of the road and flew away?
Your story brings it to real life!

yes I've read it, its 'Danny Champion of the world'. apparently it is illegal to pick up any pheasant you have hit and killed. its is legal for any following vehicle to pick it up. designed to encourage people not to hit them.

Ha ha I thought it was just hitching a lift for free. I will need to find the book and read it, it sounds like fun. My four year old and her friend were playing in the garden one day when a pheasant dropped in front of them. There was a shoot on at the time. They rushed in to get me to help it. It looked like it was on its last legs so I told them I would tuck it up in a shed to give it a chance to recover but they must leave it in peace. I did not think it would recover so asked OH to wring its neck and put it out of its misery. He told me he could not do it so I had a go myself. I then hung it up in the shed. As I was passing later on it was crying so I got it out. It seemed fine so I put it out in the field behind us with the admonition that if I saw it again I would use an axe to chop its head off. Needless to say we never saw it again. I wonder if the law is the same in Scotland? I had not heard of that before. I hope your bird never has to face those problems.

What a horrid experience Scotsgran. Good for you having the guts to deal with it.

That's interesting Sbg. But I doubt whether anybody would trouble to report you if you did pick one up. The only thing I've ever killed is a badger that dashed out from the hedge right under my back wheel and there was nothing I could do. I felt absolutely dreadful about it. Don't think I would have wanted to eat it though...