Sunday 20 September 2015

Beautiful but sad.




Finding a Pheasant in one's garden would normally be a pleasure, but for me it's a worry.

Here in France there are no 'wild' Pheasants as such, like there are in England; they are all bred and released for shooting.

The problem is that they are almost tame (the one above hardly moved as I took his picture), and French chasseurs are not against shooting a bird on the ground. In England there are only a few 'cast iron' rules about shooting; one is that to shoot a pheasant 'not in flight' is simply not done; it's almost a hanging offence.

So, yes it was lovely to see this beautiful cock Pheasant in the garden, but I fear for his safety. This weekend will probably be his last.

Later: Bok has just shown me a female sitting on a nest in a hedge. No doubt his 'wife'.


32 comments:

  1. Is the nest on your property? Is there anything that can be done to protect these birds? The thought of them getting shot makes me so sad.

    I love birds far too much to understand shooting them for sport

    Especially when they're almost tame.

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    1. No, it's just down the field in front of the house. If no hunting dog flushes her out she should be OK. She didn't seem to mind Bok poking his nose at her. I used to shoot, but gave up a long time ago.

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  2. Shooting any animal for "sport" is not something I can understand - especially in this day and age. There really isn't any excuse for it, now that we have learned to gather our food by different means.

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  3. Given the choice between being n intensively reared chicken or a pheasant I'd be a pheasant every time. You've a better chance of escaping the guns than the slaughterhouse any day!
    The pheasant is not a native bird of the UK and our wild population comprises mainly of escapees because in the wild it is rare for them to last 3 years. Mr fox is very fond of the intellectually challenged bird!

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  4. Oh and btw as you can see that pheasant is male. There are no male chickens raised for roasting, they get gassed at a day old! So much for gathering food by other means!

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    1. I heard recently that in places the male chicks are simply thrown into a mincing machine. Not a pleasant end to such a short life.

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  5. Shooting animals and birds as a sport, is so unsporting. Unfortunately living in South Africa and a province which is predominately Afrikaans, the motto in winter is: If it moves, shoot it. Grr. I hope your pair is safe from the weekend shots.

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    1. Sounds like there could be some Afrikaans blood in some of our locals; although they're not as blood-thirsty as they used to be.

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  6. It is beautiful and sad at the same time. We don't have that kind of birds here.

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  7. We don't have pheasants on Lewis but, interestingly, there were lots around The Cottage in New Zealand (all escapees or their offspring) but, so far as I am aware no one ever tried to shoot them and there are no foxes in New Zealand so they seemed to thrive rather well.

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  8. Gosh, interesting she's sitting on eggs so late in the year.
    You are quite right - it is absolutely not done to shoot a pheasant on the ground and would never be done round here. They are already roosting in our pine trees by the front garden - eight or so last night and this will rise to thirty or more as the season rolls on. Yes - they are tame and we feed them with the wild birds every day - but they soon learn to be wily once the shooting season arri ves.

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    1. I presume she was sitting on some eggs; she didn't move. I'll go and check later on this afternoon.

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  9. There's no pheasants in the Azores.

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  10. Just back from a glorious ride across the top of the valley into Sauveterre. And guess who we saw when riding up through Le G? Yes, your pheasant running up and down the side of a hedge! Ha!

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    1. How funny. No hunters here today; looks like he'll be safe.

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  11. We have many pheasants around here. I hate to hear the sound of the hunting rifle which will come in a month or so. They are such beautiful creatures and I enjoy them so when they occasionally visit my back yard.

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  12. I hope they survive......maybe they will move on to our property and you can keep them safe.

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  13. Maybe I'll put some Maize down to encourage them.

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  14. When we lived in the country on 14 acres we used to see whole families of wild turkeys. As soon as hunting season opened they would disappear!

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  15. I love watching beautiful cocks wandering around my garden, shooting or not.

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  16. I love watching beautiful cocks wandering around my garden, shooting or not.

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    Replies
    1. All right, all right, you don't have to repeat yourself.

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  17. I don't see any pheasants here, although we had loads at the last location. Always a thrill to see them. Here, I see lots of wild turkeys. Some people may shoot them, and there are some families here who do hunt to keep themselves going. I've never understood hunting for sport, either. For eats, yes.

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