I'm retired and living in North Yorkshire, where I walk as often as I can, write, volunteer, and travel as often as I can.
View all posts by margaret21
I’m intrigued… do Monday pheasants look slightly different from Tuesday pheasants??? We once drove along a road in North West Scotland that was littered with dead pheasants. Almost to the point where I thought they come here to commit communal suicide… Mind you, that was in October 2019, so perhaps there was an underlying Halloween theme?
Absolutely. They’re at their best groomed. No, actually it’s an allusion to the Monday Portrait which I usually join in on. I thought them prettier than the worms of my last post.
That’s exactly what these poor creatures are for here too. The woods hereabouts are full of drums of food so they want for nothing until their turn comes to be shot.
I love pheasants. I entirely agree with your assessment of their intellectual prowess but I still love them. I feel a small triumph for those I see because I’m reasonably confident that ‘our pheasants’ are escapees rather than destined to be cut off in their prime. There are no shoots near here that I know of. The pheasants who visit and serenade us daily are possibly the offspring of earlier generations who avoided the guns. I like to think so anyway
I do hope so, Sandra. Ours manage on the whole to avoid being roadkill, but they end up shot, and not even necessarily in the cooking pot, but just wasted, more often than not.
Yes, point accepted. Immediately after replying to you earlier I was out walking and for the first time on my usual route I came across a roadkill pheasant 😞
They look so beautiful in your photos and nothing like the roadkill I see on the Suffolk lanes. You’re so right about them being stupid – they invariably run the wrong way so (if poss) I stop completely.
Oddly, we almost never see roadkill – of the pheasant variety. I can’t understand it. They’re that
daft, and we have such thousands of them. And yes, they run towards, not away from the car.
Love seeing pheasants in the fields at this time of year. Bred for the shoot here too, so they are abundant. And content, I suppose, with no idea what’s coming. Makes my day to see them.
Gorgeous colours! I would love an autumn sweater in those colours 😉 They also appear to be rather well fed – or do pheasants always look like that? (Yes, I am an ignorant Londoner…)
They ARE well fed. Grain bins allover the place, kept filled by gamekeepers, so that people from all over the place – including Londoners – can come and shoot them in vast quantities.
Nice oval! I may have to rediscover how to make a square. I had a different laptop back then and different software. Nowadays the phone is the bane of my life, but that’s a different subject. Nice to see the daft things scuttling down a country lane but they do test your brakes sometimes.
Oh, Margaret these have been beautifully captured by you xx Now that is one subject I do have trouble with,, birds… I never seem to capture them properly.
Showing off?
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They never do anything else Sue. They’re unbelievably daft … and omnipresent.
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Oh, totally daft….
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I’m intrigued… do Monday pheasants look slightly different from Tuesday pheasants??? We once drove along a road in North West Scotland that was littered with dead pheasants. Almost to the point where I thought they come here to commit communal suicide… Mind you, that was in October 2019, so perhaps there was an underlying Halloween theme?
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Absolutely. They’re at their best groomed. No, actually it’s an allusion to the Monday Portrait which I usually join in on. I thought them prettier than the worms of my last post.
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Oh, but I like a nice worm!!! Underrated species, if ever there was one…
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Such beautiful birds! I grew up with the sound of pheasants which were bred for shooting on a nearby estate, sadly.
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That’s exactly what these poor creatures are for here too. The woods hereabouts are full of drums of food so they want for nothing until their turn comes to be shot.
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Exactly that. They’re so tame they practically stick their nose down the barrel of a gun. I hated it.
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Quite. As well as upsetting the balance of things for the original natural population.
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Handsome birds.
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Handsome … but inexpressibly dim!
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Handsome!
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Handsome but brainless.
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They wander all over our golf course completely oblivious to danger.
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I retract my comment before making it seeing the replies to others comments.
Great photo Margaret 🙂
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You really must have retracted it. Can’t find it!
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It was in my head and just about to write. You don’t want to get inside my head to look around 😂🤪
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Indeed – nor mine … 😉
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A great shot Margaret. But sad to here of their purpose.
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It’s not great, I’m afraid.
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I love pheasants. I entirely agree with your assessment of their intellectual prowess but I still love them. I feel a small triumph for those I see because I’m reasonably confident that ‘our pheasants’ are escapees rather than destined to be cut off in their prime. There are no shoots near here that I know of. The pheasants who visit and serenade us daily are possibly the offspring of earlier generations who avoided the guns. I like to think so anyway
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I do hope so, Sandra. Ours manage on the whole to avoid being roadkill, but they end up shot, and not even necessarily in the cooking pot, but just wasted, more often than not.
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Yes, point accepted. Immediately after replying to you earlier I was out walking and for the first time on my usual route I came across a roadkill pheasant 😞
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Oh dear. Too late to tell him the Highway Code.
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I learned a lot from the comments here.
Nice shots (no pun intended).
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Are you sure no pun intended 😉 ?
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😉
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I’ve seen a few around here, hopefully not for a shoot. Like Sandra I’m inclined to think they are the lucky ones.
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Indeed. We live in Big Shoot Central, here in North Yorkshire.
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Mmm…
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Exactly.
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They look so beautiful in your photos and nothing like the roadkill I see on the Suffolk lanes. You’re so right about them being stupid – they invariably run the wrong way so (if poss) I stop completely.
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Oddly, we almost never see roadkill – of the pheasant variety. I can’t understand it. They’re that
daft, and we have such thousands of them. And yes, they run towards, not away from the car.
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Maybe you have more kind and careful drivers than we have here in Suffolk.
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Brighter pheasants?
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Perhaps lucky avoiding the vehicles and hopefully the beaters and shooters too!!
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Wow! They are just beautiful! I never see them around here anymore. Used to when I was a kid but that was 50 years ago.
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I’m afraid that it’s the shooting brigade that makes them so numerous here. They’re bred and fed especially to be shot at 😦
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Beautiful colors! Wonderful images, Margaret!
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They pose very readily, Amy!
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Oooohhhh … I’m a fan of pheasants … next week! You managed to get so close!!
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They’re pretty clueless round here.
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Lucky you!
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Love seeing pheasants in the fields at this time of year. Bred for the shoot here too, so they are abundant. And content, I suppose, with no idea what’s coming. Makes my day to see them.
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Far too abundant, I think. The ones who are shot often don’t end up in the food chain, mumble grumble.
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I love the composition of that second photo.
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They posed all by themselves.
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Yes, but you had to stand in the right place and choose the height and angle.
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Thank you, kind sir!
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Beautiful portrait of these guys 😀 😀
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They are handsome, I’ll give them that.
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Gorgeous colours! I would love an autumn sweater in those colours 😉 They also appear to be rather well fed – or do pheasants always look like that? (Yes, I am an ignorant Londoner…)
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They ARE well fed. Grain bins allover the place, kept filled by gamekeepers, so that people from all over the place – including Londoners – can come and shoot them in vast quantities.
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Nice oval! I may have to rediscover how to make a square. I had a different laptop back then and different software. Nowadays the phone is the bane of my life, but that’s a different subject. Nice to see the daft things scuttling down a country lane but they do test your brakes sometimes.
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Especially pheasants, who appear to share one brain cell between many.
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🤣💖
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Oh, Margaret these have been beautifully captured by you xx Now that is one subject I do have trouble with,, birds… I never seem to capture them properly.
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Thanks Bren, but pheasants are pretty slow and steady.
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I see these beautiful birds.. and by the time I’ve found them in the viewfinder they’ve gone… he can capture them OK.
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