Looks like a French partridge to me, my brother used to rear them. Some would escape, so we still have a few around the village - one laid an egg on my vegetable patch a few years ago
. Pheasants are usually reared for shooting and fed by gamekeepers at least part of the year, so they are often used to people. In recent years, some have been releasing purchased pheasants just a few days before shooting them -- most people seem to be pretty uncomfortable with that. A lot of people blame the bankers (even before they destroyed the world economy): cash-rich and wanting a quick, convenient, easy thrill and big bags without too much effort or requiring too much skill. So, for pheasants at least, the banking crisis is probably a good thing.
From what I understand, pheasants & rabbits were introduced into Britain by the Romans (although many pheasants are imported from France now). The TV program QI (which has proven quite unreliable in its "facts") recently claimed that rabbits were first introduced (relatively recently) by the Normans - as a domestic food source (kept in warrens/conygre); apparently though this is untrue*. I was brought up to understand that hares are native, although I see some internet sources now claim the Romans introduced them too (seems less likely to me). Ah, this link reckons the mountain hare is native but the Roman's introduced the brown hare (I still find that hard to believe). Ah...and this link confirms that the Brown hare precedes the Romans by tens of thousands of years. Happy again Although hares are few and far between here now.
ADM your son is going to be an awesome angler.
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4439339.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1487787/Romans-introduced-the-rabbit.html
. Pheasants are usually reared for shooting and fed by gamekeepers at least part of the year, so they are often used to people. In recent years, some have been releasing purchased pheasants just a few days before shooting them -- most people seem to be pretty uncomfortable with that. A lot of people blame the bankers (even before they destroyed the world economy): cash-rich and wanting a quick, convenient, easy thrill and big bags without too much effort or requiring too much skill. So, for pheasants at least, the banking crisis is probably a good thing.From what I understand, pheasants & rabbits were introduced into Britain by the Romans (although many pheasants are imported from France now). The TV program QI (which has proven quite unreliable in its "facts") recently claimed that rabbits were first introduced (relatively recently) by the Normans - as a domestic food source (kept in warrens/conygre); apparently though this is untrue*. I was brought up to understand that hares are native, although I see some internet sources now claim the Romans introduced them too (seems less likely to me). Ah, this link reckons the mountain hare is native but the Roman's introduced the brown hare (I still find that hard to believe). Ah...and this link confirms that the Brown hare precedes the Romans by tens of thousands of years
. Happy again Although hares are few and far between here now.ADM your son is going to be an awesome angler.
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4439339.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1487787/Romans-introduced-the-rabbit.html
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