A female pheasant decided to have a look around our garden one day recently. She was very nervous, constantly looking round to check that there was no danger. Photos were taken through the window, so apologies, not the usual standard!
A quick look behind to make sure nothing was creeping up on her.
Everything seems ok for now….
so she went to have a look up the steps…….
to check that everything was all clear up there too. She was now obviously happy and relaxed because she stayed quite some time, eventually though she flew away.
We were amazed to see, barely an hour later, a fox sniffing exactly where the pheasant had been. A fox family has been seen quite regularly round the village, Mum, Dad and 2 cubs. So far we have only seen Mum or Dad in the garden, they always seem to come round about 6pm.
Thwarted ! So close, guess the cubs went hungry for a bit but at least Mrs Pheasant lived another day, or we hope she did!
We are sometimes amazed at what we see in the garden, this was so close to the house, only about 15ft away. Animals and birds that we have watched seem very much at home here and sometimes we feel we are the intruders, I wonder what else uses our garden as “their” patch when we aren’t looking!
you might get some interesting stories if you set up a night camera. But I prefer the extra layer of excitement, I was there, I saw it with mine own two eyes! Never forget the once I saw a young fox in the forests above Schoenenwerd where my husband grew up.
I saw the female pheasant this morning Diana, or I assume it was the same one,so she lives another day! A night camera would be good, but the last time it snowed , it was so interesting folowing all the footprints round the garden and identifying them.
When I was about 10 a female pheasant took up residence under a holly tree in the garden on Christmas Eve and left the day after Boxing Day. Your photos reminded me how fascinated I was by our yuletide visitor.
How amazing to have a fox visiting your garden? Our garden is very enclosed so rarely get mammalian wildlife, although we have come across a frog and toad in the last few weeks which makes me happy.
I think its lovely WW, when wild creatures take up residence in the garden, it means they feel safe & therefore we are doing something right. Lovely story about your Christmas pheasant. We have had foxes occasionally before but not on such a regular basis, I remember when we had snow 18 months ago, we also had rabbit and deer footprints.
What a coincidence. Last Tuesday evening we had a dinner party on the terrace and who should stop by but mister fox (I’m assuming he was a mister!) He came very close and it seems he has visited before as he has been chewing the irrigation tubes to get water – so more work to repair the damage – a visitor I could have done without. Christina
As you say, Christina, what a coincidence, its amazing how brave they are sometimes, I suppose yours looking for water made it lose its fear of humans. Sometimes they do a bit of damage to the garden, but so far ours have been fairly well behaved!
How funny! The fox certainly looks like she was sniffing out her next meal. How fun to see these both from your window in one day. Foxes are very rare to see here in Pennsylvania… I do not think that I have seen one near our town, only when I was traveling elsewhere.
Yes Julie, it was amazing to see him/her sniffing in just the same spot, I’m sure the pheasant had left her scent behind. Foxes seem to be quite common in towns these days, but here in the country, we don’t see them very often unless they are feeding cubs. Usually they come out at night time, sometimes hear an earie cry during the night!
Hi Pauline,
Mmmm, and dinner sure does look yummy! 😉 heehee
Got the Foxes, not the Pheasant though… Would be a wee bit strange though to see one in a city. I hope she wasn’t caught by Foxy, no doubt she has some juveniles hanging around somewhere that aren’t yet ready to fend for themselves.
Have to agree Liz, I am partial to a bit of pheasant myself! Have since seen a few female pheasants in the field next door, so hope ours was one of them. Quite often we see the male with his harem of about a dozen females, we seem to have plenty in the area, maybe thats why a fox family has taken up residence in the village.
So glad that your feathered caller did not come to grief Pauline. We’ve never had a pheasant visiting but a few years ago I looked out of the dining room door and was amazed to see a fox with her cubs. A pleasure to see them so close up. It’s certainly fun to speculate what might be out there when we are not peeking.
Anna, sometimes late at night there are strange noises in the garden, I’m sure we share it with lots of creatures that consider it their territory. Deer footprints appeared in the last snow that we had, coming right up to the house. It must have been wonderful to see your fox with her cubs, what we would have called a “Mulligan’s magical moment” when the children were little!
Those are some great pictures!
I walked up on a quail yesterday scratching around in the brush, even though it took it’s own time walking away, I didn’t have enough of it to get the camera out of my pocket and activated.
The only fox I’ve seen was when it went into the havaheart trap I set for those durn coons. The fox was turned loose… I need him to catch those rats n voles.
So glad Stone, that you turned the fox loose, I won’t ask what would have happened if your trap had caught the coons! Quails are quite often domesticated over here for their eggs, a delicacy in fancy restaurants.