PHOTOS, LETTERS, TWEETS, QUESTIONS – HAVE YOUR SAY
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Reeve’s Pheasant
I live on the outskirts of Boston, Lincolnshire. This morning, I was going to work and I spotted the most beautiful bird. It was a pheasant with a black-and-white head, which I videoed as it got so close to me. I ‘Googled’ it, only to find that it’s a Reeve’s Pheasant. I am not sure if this is a rare sighting; can you help, please? Dave Leary
The editor says: Reeve’s Pheasant is a spectacular, large pheasant species endemic to the temperate forests of central China. The male has an exceptionally long tail, which grows a foot a year, and can measure nearly eight feet (2.4m) in total! In the 19th Century, live specimens were brought to the UK. They were kept in collections and released on estates around the country, but especially in Scotland where the hilly country was thought to resemble the terrain of their native range. As big birds, and powerful flyers, which tower when flushed (and are apparently good eating), they were considered a fine target for beaten shoots. After an initial period of flourishing, it was noted that males could be very aggressive to the Pheasants also kept on estates, and had a habitat of clearing their territory of other potential ‘game targets’, as well as dispersing widely. These factors contributed in Reeve’s Pheasants going out of fashion by the turn of the 20th Century. Some small populations did persist, though supported. However, after the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release such non-natives into the countryside. Any Reeve’s Pheasant seen ‘in the wild’ is highly likely to be either one which has escaped from a collection, or could possibly be an illegally released bird.
On Bo’s view of photographers
While I agree with some of Bo Beolens’ comments regarding bird photographers (Bird Watching, May 2024), I would suggest that, as well as taking their images, they are also enjoying being out and observing nature. Birdwatching is no longer the realm of the individual sitting in a hide with a scope or binoculars, or
