..OR how pleasant pheasant is turning into a stalker
IT'S the mating season and don't we know it.
The gardens are ringing with a variety of sounds as song birds pair up with their ideal mates and busy themselves building nests.
Even Horatio the Scots Dumpy cockerel has got his mojo back. Not only has he found his cock-a-doodle-do but he is finally fulfilling his role in the hen pen with gusto.
As regulars to this blog know, my rare breed Scots Dumpys were nearly wiped out some months ago by a couple of foxes that broke in to their crees overnight. Only five survived and they've been in a terrible state ever since.
However now they have a new challenge ... an overly amorous pheasant who is either too lazy to find his ideal partner or he thinks he is a rooster! I'm not sure which, at the moment, because he has started acting like a cockerel around the hens.
He starts furiously grunting and pecking at the ground as though he's just found a secret stash of corn or tasty morsels. It's a well tried and tested ruse used by most cockerels to attract curious hens and for some bizarre reason it seems to work with alarming frequency. However, while it works for Horatio the other Scots Dumpys are none too impressed by Frank's persistent antics and, as a result, when they see him coming they give him the cold shoulder, or the hen equivalent.
I've shot two little video here so you can bear witness to Frank's antics. Last month his focus was purely on the white hen Thumberlina but now he has extended his repartee to the others and they're just not interested, as you can see from the clip on the right.
In my second video, below,
you can see and hear him rutting around to attract everyone's attention, but the hens are singularly unimpressed by his performance.
Despite being semi wild, poor Frank has now taken to stalking the feathered females inside and around their hen pen. Horatio has avoided confontation so far but I can see trouble down the line if Frank continues to stalk the Dumpys.
It's such a shame we can't find him a female companion as his scarlet face mask looks quite stunning and while I'm sure he'd rock a few boats in the pheasant world he's simply not cutting the mustard as far as the hens are concerned.
He-who-should-be-obeyed-but-rarely-is reckons there's only one solution; he thinks we should eat Frank! Of course that's his solution to most problems: let's eat it before the fox does.
However dear readers, I promise here and now that whatever fate has in store for our white cock pheasant it won't be as a table bird.
My response to hubby was not dissimilar to the final line of the classic 1939 film Gone With The Wind as Clark Gable turns to Vivien Leigh and says: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
 |
FRANKLY I'm not impressed with Spring
2015
|
IT'S the mating season and don't we know it.
The gardens are ringing with a variety of sounds as song birds pair up with their ideal mates and busy themselves building nests.
Even Horatio the Scots Dumpy cockerel has got his mojo back. Not only has he found his cock-a-doodle-do but he is finally fulfilling his role in the hen pen with gusto.
 |
FRANKLY I'm not interested, says
Thumberlina as Frank looks on
|
However now they have a new challenge ... an overly amorous pheasant who is either too lazy to find his ideal partner or he thinks he is a rooster! I'm not sure which, at the moment, because he has started acting like a cockerel around the hens.
He starts furiously grunting and pecking at the ground as though he's just found a secret stash of corn or tasty morsels. It's a well tried and tested ruse used by most cockerels to attract curious hens and for some bizarre reason it seems to work with alarming frequency. However, while it works for Horatio the other Scots Dumpys are none too impressed by Frank's persistent antics and, as a result, when they see him coming they give him the cold shoulder, or the hen equivalent.
I've shot two little video here so you can bear witness to Frank's antics. Last month his focus was purely on the white hen Thumberlina but now he has extended his repartee to the others and they're just not interested, as you can see from the clip on the right.
In my second video, below,
you can see and hear him rutting around to attract everyone's attention, but the hens are singularly unimpressed by his performance.
Despite being semi wild, poor Frank has now taken to stalking the feathered females inside and around their hen pen. Horatio has avoided confontation so far but I can see trouble down the line if Frank continues to stalk the Dumpys.
It's such a shame we can't find him a female companion as his scarlet face mask looks quite stunning and while I'm sure he'd rock a few boats in the pheasant world he's simply not cutting the mustard as far as the hens are concerned.
He-who-should-be-obeyed-but-rarely-is reckons there's only one solution; he thinks we should eat Frank! Of course that's his solution to most problems: let's eat it before the fox does.
However dear readers, I promise here and now that whatever fate has in store for our white cock pheasant it won't be as a table bird.
My response to hubby was not dissimilar to the final line of the classic 1939 film Gone With The Wind as Clark Gable turns to Vivien Leigh and says: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
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