Nature Diary

April 27th

A male pheasant has become the avian equivalent of a Property Tycoon here on the farm.   He has taken over the garden, the lawn
under the Scots pines and the back patio and would like to take over the house as well if he could.

He is not friendly.   If we go outside into the garden he demands an explanation for our conduct.   I hear his raucous voice almost immediately; in fact I hear it dozens of times a day.   

He is fat, sleek and in full breeding colours and has a harem of six ladies who are gradually disappearing, presumably to make nests in the bedgeback.

It doesn't seem to occur to him that he has us to thank for his appearance.   He has scavenged under our bird feeder all Winter long and spends most of the day there, eating the corn the farmer puts down for him and then waiting for the birds at the feeders to drop various seeds for his delectation.

Should another cock pheasant dare to land on the grass he is totally unforgiving.   One fight resulted in the other pheasant being lamed badly.   He is slowly recovering and tries to sneak in for a feed if the boss is out of sight - but he never succeeds.   There is a furious shriek and he takes flight and is gone.

The dogs and cats give him a wide berth.  In fact, the only thing that could bring about his downfall is a vehicle of some kind.   He spends a lot of his day strutting his stuff up and down the lane and I fear that one day he might pay too much attention to vanity and not enough to listen out for a car coming.