Pheasant nesting in garden

[theplayingmantis]

My folks have a pheasant nesting at the bottom of their garden near the rear fence that backs on to arable and woodland, against the neighbors boundary amongst some ground cover in a wild patch (elder/ground ivy and periwinkle and suchlike - not in a hedge or near one). Its nowhere near the house but near compost heaps/bonfire areas etc, and is left in the spring/summer to grow wild with a path cut through for access into the fields/woods beyond so mrs pheasent wont be disturbed, much or closely. last year same thing happened and she was checked on from afar but ultimately the nest was assumedly predated as one day the eggs and her were all gone with no evidence of hatching (or predation actually). i havent had a chance to visit to see this years nest but described as being in same situation as last.

i know gamekeepers move partridge and pheasant nests and can successfully move the eggs to other nests under their remit, but folks have no such option.

any suggestions on what to do to stop tragedy striking again, short of taking the eggs and hand rearing or is it a case of letting nature be red in tooth and claw and hope for the best.

[PositronicRay]

[theplayingmantis]

they get that, well used to when they bothered to put grain out, or when it snowed.

i was walking in woods at peckforton castle last week and saw a couple of the more unusal pheasnt species, white/silver one and some other oddball, hadnt seen odd ones them since a kid at centre parcs in elevden where you used to get quite a selection. stupid but beautiful creatures!

Get the black (well they appear black but are just very dark all over) in my part of essex quite commonly.

[oddman]

If you know anyone with chickens you might be able to get a broody hen to hatch and rear them.

They have large broods and will lay a second time to compensate for being ground nesting. Even within an estate which is well keepered (ie. lots of shooting and trapping of predators), there is still significant predation of partridge and pheasant.

The unusual breeds Golden, Reeves and Lady Amherst pheasant were all introduced in Victorian times. Originally Far East Asian birds and not variants of our 'native' bird. The black ones are a melanistic version of the 'native' bird.

[Evanivitch]

Let tragedy happen. These birds are ill-suited to our ecosystem and out-compete native birds in many cases.

45 million game birds that released each year, about a third get shot. The rest starve and fall to predation. Some make it through winter where weather is milder and food more abundant.

[theplayingmantis]

thanks oddman, yes aware of the family tree of the rarer ones, think majority of them are meant to have died out in their former haunts in recent years sadly, at the least no longer self sustaining if they ever were... Never seen anything odd around Woburn which i would have expected having spent decent periods of time there in last few years, given it being the source for all sorts of 'escapes'!

re. the eggs will let nature takes its course. came upon a fledgling rook with the dog last night on the edge of a shelter belt, she was on a lead so didnt get it, but the rook, although very nearly adult size wings were not developed enough yet and it was tumbling around hopping away from us, before we got past and it went back to we here it had been. i dont hold much hope for it despite the proximity of its family. few weeks ago a juvenile magpie and its family got it from 2 carrion crows, assume the mags had a go at the crows nest and this juve took the brunt of the fight as there was about 6 mags involved. It couldnt walk and just looked at me pathetically when i broke up the fight. i thought about putting a box on it for shelter but was off away that evening so we couldnt do that. As much as i don't like magpies it was rather sad.

[bimsb6]

theplayingmantis said:

thanks oddman, yes aware of the family tree of the rarer ones, think majority of them are meant to have died out in their former haunts in recent years sadly, at the least no longer self sustaining if they ever were... Never seen anything odd around Woburn which i would have expected having spent decent periods of time there in last few years, given it being the source for all sorts of 'escapes'!

re. the eggs will let nature takes its course. came upon a fledgling rook with the dog last night on the edge of a shelter belt, she was on a lead so didnt get it, but the rook, although very nearly adult size wings were not developed enough yet and it was tumbling around hopping away from us, before we got past and it went back to we here it had been. i dont hold much hope for it despite the proximity of its family. few weeks ago a juvenile magpie and its family got it from 2 carrion crows, assume the mags had a go at the crows nest and this juve took the brunt of the fight as there was about 6 mags involved. It couldnt walk and just looked at me pathetically when i broke up the fight. i thought about putting a box on it for shelter but was off away that evening so we couldnt do that. As much as i don't like magpies it was rather sad.

I have seen a golden around the back of the woburn estate a few years back .

[Boosted LS1]

I'd leave it alone. The chicks are mobile from the moment they hatch. Let nature take it's course imo. If she failed last year she wouldn't be back.

[theplayingmantis]

brigadoon again... all gone and no sign. assume reynard or more likely brother brock got them. or the c*nting mags although would have expected a mess if the latter.

[mike74]

theplayingmantis said:

brigadoon again... all gone and no sign. assume reynard or more likely brother brock got them. or the c*nting mags although would have expected a mess if the latter.

I'd be happier knowing a native wild animal is getting a good feed rather than a non-native invasive species is successfully reproducing.

[Tyre Smoke]

There is a reason why they lay upto a dozen eggs at a time. Their survival rate isn't great.

Breeders near me release three times the number of birds required for shoots because they really are stupid creatures. The bird, not the breeder!

[theplayingmantis]

yes indeed, but still a bit sad when they lay in a domestic situation and then the nest fails! They are the stupidest bird going although that may be the semi tame ones having the suicide wish when it comes to cars.

[anonymous-user]

mike74 said:

I'd be happier knowing a native wild animal is getting a good feed rather than a non-native invasive species is successfully reproducing.

To be honest the British Isles don’t really have any native species anyway nothing older than than about 12-15000 years, nearly every is invasive including ourselves.

I don’t mind pheasants they’re rather sad little creatures and hopeless around traffic.

[Silvanus]

Newarch said:

mike74 said:

I'd be happier knowing a native wild animal is getting a good feed rather than a non-native invasive species is successfully reproducing.

To be honest the British Isles don’t really have any native species anyway nothing older than than about 12-15000 years, nearly every is invasive including ourselves.

I don’t mind pheasants they’re rather sad little creatures and hopeless around traffic.

Absolute nonsense, don't really know where to start. All animals in the UK are invasive, really???? Think you might go and need to go and do some reading up

[anonymous-user]

Silvanus said:

Absolute nonsense, don't really know where to start. All animals in the UK are invasive, really???? Think you might go and need to go and do some reading up

I doubt you know what you’re talking about. Pretty much everything in Great Britain and Ireland came here from somewhere else largely from Europe. Our native flora and fauna is actually very limited as a result.

[Evoluzione]

You should be watching Springwatch really, it's a tough life out there.

[mike74]

Newarch said:

I doubt you know what you’re talking about. Pretty much everything in Great Britain and Ireland came here from somewhere else largely from Europe. Our native flora and fauna is actually very limited as a result.

An interesting point of view.

So if you don't class something that's been here for 12-15,000 years as 'native' can you give examples of UK wildlife that you do consider native?

[anonymous-user]

mike74 said:

An interesting point of view.

So if you don't class something that's been here for 12-15,000 years as 'native' can you give examples of UK wildlife that you do consider native?

I’d suggest that the British landscape and wildlife is now wholly artificial. It contains goodness knows how many imported species including livestock and many wild animals, and lacks many older species including brown bears, wolves and beaver. Having commissioned quite a few paleo environmental reports I’d suggest most people wouldn’t recognise this country’s natural environment, which tended to comprise dense bog oak or alder and would have resembled what modern day railway embankments look like, minus all the rubbish obviously.

As to pheasants they’re scarcely the worst offenders for damaging the ecosphere, I imagine most predators do rather well out of the endless amount of roadkill where I live.

[Silvanus]

Newarch said:

Silvanus said:

Absolute nonsense, don't really know where to start. All animals in the UK are invasive, really???? Think you might go and need to go and do some reading up

I doubt you know what you’re talking about. Pretty much everything in Great Britain and Ireland came here from somewhere else largely from Europe. Our native flora and fauna is actually very limited as a result.

I know exactly whst I'm talking about when it comes to our native flaura and fauna comes from thanks very much, as well as our non native and invasive species. You do know the difference between plants and animals colonising of there own accord and what was moved around by man? There is quite a big difference

[Silvanus]

Newarch said:

mike74 said:

An interesting point of view.

So if you don't class something that's been here for 12-15,000 years as 'native' can you give examples of UK wildlife that you do consider native?

I’d suggest that the British landscape and wildlife is now wholly artificial. It contains goodness knows how many imported species including livestock and many wild animals, and lacks many older species including brown bears, wolves and beaver. Having commissioned quite a few paleo environmental reports I’d suggest most people wouldn’t recognise this country’s natural environment, which tended to comprise dense bog oak or alder and would have resembled what modern day railway embankments look like, minus all the rubbish obviously.

As to pheasants they’re scarcely the worst offenders for damaging the ecosphere, I imagine most predators do rather well out of the endless amount of roadkill where I live.

So as someone who sounds like they know what they are talking about, why did you suggest all British animals were invasive? When you obviously know that not to be true