A Paid Performance!

Visitors to the house today were surprised and delighted to see a number of wild pheasants in the garden. To see one would have been a treat, one said, but to see a group was exceptional. It was an everyday occurrence for me.

Mealtime! 

Word spreads quickly – I shake the container with the rolled barley and they come along! 

When I draw the bedroom curtains they are outside, watching and waiting. When I walk in the garden they come running towards me – the braver ones anyway; others, being more cautious, keep a little distance. They are ever near at hand while we work in the garden and, despite what many have said to me, they do only very little damage in the garden – where the soil is dry they scratch and enjoy dust baths.

Cocks are reaching an age when they are becoming aggressive and will soon disperse on the lines of “There isn’t room for the two of us in the garden; one of us has to go!”

He’s the boss in the garden, father to all the younger birds here. 

The secret of all this attention is, of course, food! We have kept hens and ducks for a number of years and always give some, rolled barley, to the pheasants. This is obviously to their taste as they wait for breakfast every morning and come begging several times during the day.

It is a reciprocal arrangement: they are fed and I enjoy having them in the garden.

This mother is alert and on the lookout for any danger

Father and son, one of the last clutch to hatch this year. 

Oooh, that’s a look full of intentions!