SNOOKS

The handsome fellow in tonight's picture is cock pheasant and a regular visitor to the garden. We first met him back in August when he spent several weeks lurking in our shrubbery looking very tatty indeed. It was the time of year when birds moult ,as their feathers fall out and before the new ones grow they can be unable to fly for a couple of weeks or so.

He was barely recognisable back then,I remember my son fetching me from the house to identify the “Weird Bird” he had found skulking among the bushes, and I must say that even I took a moment to think before pronouncing it's breed!

I expect that it felt safe in the enclosed garden, safe from foxes, dogs,buzzards, predators of all shapes and sizes.

From time to time throughout early Autumn he appeared,sporting a new set of featherers ,as fine a bird as I have ever seen, then in late Autumn he returned to the surrounding wheat fields ,there to feast upon grain fallen and forgotten after harvest ,and by the look of him he found plenty!

It was not until yesterday that he reappeared in our garden where he was to be observed feeding with our usual garden birds on the largess provided by Pa. The reason for his arrival was ,I am certain connected with the sounds of shooting which echoed around he parish during Sunday's day light hours, presumably the usual bunch of Hooray Henry's, blasting the feathers off anything that moved.

Now don't mistake me, I have no objection to the shooting of game for food and enjoy a brace of well roasted birds as much as the next woman. I have shot game myself in the past...but this is different. These types are let loose with shot guns and little experience ,and for a price are allowed to shoot the Squires game birds, no skill is required as the scatter shot ensures that at least the birds will be badly wounded and here is the point, many of these birds are so mangled and full of shot that it would be impossible to eat them.

I have seen game birds shot on The Duke of |Northumberland's Alnwick Estate by paying “guns” so badly damaged that they looks for all the world as if they had swallowed hand grenades!! I would not even use them for soup!

Our visiting Pheasant has returned to what is quite possible the safest place in the Parish, the grounds of our home where he can feed safely and strut about like a Lord with impunity, the wily old bird has out smarted the hunters, and their loss is our gain for he is a beautiful addition to the wild life spectacle our garden affords.

Oh, by the way, his name is Snooks.....you can guess why of course?