Cock Pheasant

Hi Folks ,Had a wander around the woods today did get a couple of pics of the GSW at the feeding post I put up a week or so back,but on the way

home came across this old guy wandering down the side of the road(one of lucky ones "so far" to have been missed by the massed guns of local

farmers)couldnt help thinking how colourful he looked,so I had to hang out the car window and take a few pics,(hence the not so good quality)

 

 

 

 

  • You are certainly right there,the percentage that a killed on the roads around here when first released must be way above the few taken by the buzzards,but the keepers probably count the road kill as being taken by BoP if they see them eating them.

    Des

  • It's like all jobs... you get good, bad and indifferent.   There's some bad so-called gamekeepers that wouldn't know how to manage wildlife and have things right if you paid them double!  

    I've said it before (in another thread), the reason why there's so many of the darned things on the road is that there's a lot of lazy so-called gamekeepers on a wage to do a basic labouring job whilst wearing camouflage gear!  They're that useless and lazy in some parts and on some of these cheap-ass syndicated shoots that they just site feeders by the sides of roads to save walking and that means every time the birds hear a car they run out at it expecting it to slow down and feed it!

    I live in prime shooting country surrounded by prestigious estates and they do indeed employ proper, decent gamekeepers.  

    I've shown photos and written about the range of birds here.  My real bird passion is birds of prey and it's far from compromised from living in prime shooting country.  Indeed the land here is managed so the environment is pretty near perfect for birds of all sorts.   I know darned well that it isn't ever even in the head of a decent gamekeeper to indiscriminately use poison or to shoot or kill raptors and that sort of behaviour would get one immediately dismissed and totally ostracised up round here.  

  • Totally agree with you on the standards of some of the keepers,I was invited to anagronomist meeting a couple of weeks ago where they where discussing the demise of late of the grey partridge and what could be done in conjunction with the game bird society to protect it,whilst the disscusion got on to predators and the nilson trap one of the farmers said that he inadvertantly caught a sparrow hawk in one of his traps ,but was supprised at how quite it was when he removed it and put it on the ground to fly away,an older game keeper just could not get over the fact that he had not killed it.

    The chairman gave him a reprimand and pointed out that it was a criminal offence,but I doubt it got through to him.

    I also remember reading an RSPCA article a few weeks ago about Bowland Betty that had been tracked and found to have been shot in north yorks,the article went on to say that areas of Scotland and nth yorks where grouse shoots are held are the worst areas for killing by whatever means birds of prey of all varieties including eagles.

    Des

  • your picture is so atmospheric, you are a real pro!