Green Pheasant, UK (1 Viewer)

birderUK007 · Feb 28, 2018

Hi

Was walking yesterday through Gloucestershire countryside and spotted this pheasant whilst crossing a farm. Image quality of pics is bad as only had my phone but you can see the pheasant is clearly not a common one with its blue and green colourations on the body and neck. Quick Google led me to the (Japanese Green Pheasant) as a likely candidate.

The farm does have a pheasant shoot on it, is this species of bird now being imported for this? Or is the likely answer it's this just an escapee/part of an exotic bird collection?

Thanks

MTem · Feb 28, 2018

Yes Japanese Green pheasants, and yes they're included in the released bird stock for shoots 'to add interest' !

RichieTwitchy · Feb 28, 2018

MTem said:
Yes Japanese Green pheasants, and yes they're included in the released bird stock for shoots 'to add interest' !

Am I out of touch here or does the shooting of birds for sport, recreation and fun seem archaic, cruel and, well, blimmin horrible!

Is there a reason - akin to zoos - where they can 'boast' that the birds are treated well and looked after and maybe they reinvest some of their filthy lucre back into bird causes?

You'd think with the advancement of drone technology that maybe we can still give these 'people' a 'sport' of some sort to fill their 'worthwhile' spare time?

Am I being naive here? Are there some people on here who enjoy the 'sport' and I'm just being over-dramatic, silly and uneducated?

I regularly visit Lunt nature reserve and some of the fields next to the reserve are 'rented out' for shooting and I've been told by both the reserves workers and the local birders that Harriers and Kestrels and other types of bird have been found shot or wounded.

mark clements · Feb 28, 2018

RichieTwitchy said:
Am I being naive here? Are there some people on here who enjoy the 'sport' and I'm just being over-dramatic, silly and uneducated?

I have seen nothing to suggest anyone on this thread has shown an affinity for shoots in the UK

I personally would not, nor would advocate shooting, I find it abhorrent to kill for sport, but culls are quite common. Who does the shooting in culls? Is it the same set of people that shoot? There may be a need or benefit to skilled shooters being the fillers as there should be less non-kill shots.

I reiterate I personally would not, nor would advocate shooting, I am raising the dilemma that exists.

Sorry to thread jack

BobbitWorm45 · Feb 28, 2018

Sport shooting is an extremely controversial, current topic! There is much twitter discussion on this, particularly regarding driven grouse shooting and it's effect on the environment and shoot management practices, e.g. raptor persecution. Regarding shooting 'replacement' activities, clay pigeon is already there but there's just not enough blood and carnage for some

. (don't get me started!!!)

RichieTwitchy · Feb 28, 2018

hwinbermuda said:
I have seen nothing to suggest anyone on this thread has shown an affinity for shoots in the UK

I personally would not, nor would advocate shooting, I find it abhorrent to kill for sport, but culls are quite common. Who does the shooting in culls? Is it the same set of people that shoot? There may be a need or benefit to skilled shooters being the fillers as there should be less non-kill shots.

I reiterate I personally would not, nor would advocate shooting, I am raising the dilemma that exists.

Sorry to thread jack

To be clear, I wasn't suggesting that anyone on this thread had shown an affinity for shoots - I guess my questioning was rhetorical.

As you and BobbitWorm45 have pointed out, it is a massive subject and I too also don't want to hijack this thread - especially as it's in the wrong forum.

I guess it was just anger that got me riled.

:t:

tconzemi · Feb 28, 2018

RichieTwitchy said:
To be clear, I wasn't suggesting that anyone on this thread had shown an affinity for shoots - I guess my questioning was rhetorical.

As you and BobbitWorm45 have pointed out, it is a massive subject and I too also don't want to hijack this thread - especially as it's in the wrong forum.

I guess it was just anger that got me riled.

:t:

I fully agree and I would add that in many European countries releasing game and doing sports with it is simply forbidden (not France and GB) and in more and more countries sports fishing (catch as many as possible or as big as possible and release them) is no longer allowed
it is a huge industry in F and GB

Nutcracker · Feb 28, 2018

Just a melanistic (dark) Common Pheasant - it doesn't have the pale blue rump and wing coverts of Green Pheasant: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phasianus_versicolor_-Japan_-male-8.jpg

birderUK007 · Feb 28, 2018

Nutcracker said:
Just a melanistic (dark) Common Pheasant - it doesn't have the pale blue rump and wing coverts of Green Pheasant: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phasianus_versicolor_-Japan_-male-8.jpg

I think you're spot on. I had no idea melanistic Common Pheasants looked like this, but found some similar images of such birds:

https://www.hbw.com/sites/default/f...ibc/p/Phasianus_versicolour.jpg?itok=TeiozsG_

https://retrieverman.net/2011/12/18/melanistic-ring-necked-or-common-pheasant

Definitely didn't have the pale blue rump or wing coverts of a true Green Pheasant. I wonder how common melanism is in pheasants, or whether it's the same ratio for any bird? I've certainly never seen a pheasant like this before.

mark clements · Feb 28, 2018

I have anecdotal evidence (therefore no evidence really) of some shoots having 'sports' included in a shoot, be they melanistic, leucanistic or genuine 'sports' from other species, so wouldn't have been surprised by the first provisional ident, but it does look melanistic on review.
H

BimmyB · Feb 28, 2018

Some shoots release different coloured birds, like the green one in the photo, as well as white ones, and on some shoots in the recent past they used to release a few Silver Pheasants too, the reasons often being given that the 'different' ones were not to be shot, but used as 'markers' by the shoot managers to gauge how far their released birds were travelling away from the release pens. On the shoot I knew where they released the Silver Pheasants there was a £100 fine for anyone who shot one, as they had been released on the basis that their presence and the fine, made the guns look and identify before squeezing the trigger. The fine was peanuts in relation to the cost of a day shooting, but at least some sites were making an effort to prevent their guns from just shooting willy-nilly. The Silver Pheasants were always recaptured at the end of the shooting season.

Strontium Dog · Feb 28, 2018

RichieTwitchy said:
Am I out of touch here or does the shooting of birds for sport, recreation and fun seem archaic, cruel and, well, blimmin horrible!

I'd suggest it's considerably less cruel than sticking a bird in a pen, stuffing it full of corn, then slaughtering it at six weeks of age. Which is what happens to most of the chickens in British supermarkets.

Anyway, I've never seen a pheasant like that one myself. A jolly interesting bird.

ialarmedalien · Feb 28, 2018

RichieTwitchy said:
Am I out of touch here or does the shooting of birds for sport, recreation and fun seem archaic, cruel and, well, blimmin horrible!

Is there a reason - akin to zoos - where they can 'boast' that the birds are treated well and looked after and maybe they reinvest some of their filthy lucre back into bird causes?

You'd think with the advancement of drone technology that maybe we can still give these 'people' a 'sport' of some sort to fill their 'worthwhile' spare time?

If these hunting types wanted to demonstrate some real skill, they should try shooting photos of the birds, instead of shooting guns. That'd be much trickier!

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Green Pheasant, UK (1 Viewer)

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