RIP Pheasant

[werdnal]

Since last summer we've had a wild pheasant visiting us. He started off very skittish, but over the months has got very tame and comes within a few feet of us. He is usually here in the mornings for breakfast and sometimes late afternoon for his tea. If I rattled our chicken corn tin he would come running. Sitting in the recent spring sunshine on our hedge, he was a beautiful sight.

Unfortunately, on our way to school this morning, I came across a dead pheasant in the road at the end of our lane. Why the h*ll do people drive so fast? Its a single track quiet lane, serving just 6 houses, but there are temporary lights in the village and I think its being used as a short cut. Whoever hit him must have been moving, as the skid mark and feathers from the impact are a good 10 feet back from where he landed, but at least it was obviously mercifully quick. I stopped on the way back from school and moved him into the hedge, so he doesn't get run over further. At least the local foxes/buzzards will have a meal today!

I'm not totally convinced he was "our" bird, as there are a couple others around, but he hasn't been for breakfast yet. He's managed to survive the local foxes and guns, only to be finished off by some inconsiderate driver trying to save a few minutes sitting in a queue of traffic. We'll miss his daily visits - RIP pheasant.

[brainfarmer]

ive seen a few pheasants meet their end on the roads and each time the unlucky bird has actually flown into the path of a car rather than been hit whilst in the road. ive also seen a swan meet a similar fate whilst on the train it hit the drivers windscreen with a tremendous bang and i was amazed the windscreen didnt break.

[werdnal]

Its unlikely he flew infront of the car, as the lane is set in high hedges, almost tunnel like. My guess is he was in the way and couldn't fly out in time.

[goosey]

That is so sad; I hope it isn’t your particular pheasant.
Some drivers are so oblivious to others on the road, whether it’s for pedestrians and giving no thought of how unpredictable children can be or cyclists. Animals probably don’t even register in their thoughts. It’s just selfishness and inconsiderate.

[agrumpycow]

Unfortunately in my experience pheasants tend to try to outrun a car before doing a sudden lurch across the road! I've never hit one though because I get ready for it and manage to stop. It's a real shame and I'm sorry you had to see it

Claire

[nightshade]

Itis always a shame when a befriended wild creature dies although in my
experience locals do the fast driving newcomers are initially more careful

[badgerwatcher]

That's sad, werdnal. I've seen a big old dog badger run over and dead some mile or two up the lane from our house, and I wait every night to see if my Boewulf, King of the badgers appears. I haven't seen him yet.
It's heartbreaking to see the roadkill.

[Walwyn]

I hit a pheasant once. Stupid bird darted out of the hedge and ran straight in front of me, unless you were parked you couldn't have missed it.

Badgers are regularly run over on the roads near me. They'll probably be at least one, maybe two or three each week killed from now on. Actually I see more Badgers killed than anything else.

[Kayleigh]

Sorry about the pheasant. We get lots of hedgehogs they come to our garden and a few days later you see them dead on the roads. Why cant people just think about wildlife. I can hear cars screeching around the housing estate in the middle of the night. The hedgehogs don't stand a chance

[demicav]

Unfortunately in this day and age there are alot of people who don't consider wildlife, some people don't even consider mankind let alone animals. It's a real shame that animals are not protected more on roads and this is another example of how terrible it is for man to keep building roads through habitats. It's only set to get worse, sorry for looking on the bad side but won't get any better. One thing I've noticed is that certain folks seem to get real enjoyment from speeding up and down country lanes, probably because they think they can get away with it.