War

The cock pheasant are trying to gain control of territory. These two fought their way up the adjacent field this morning. Unfortunately the best photographic scuffles were held behind the garden fence where the vegetation obscured their view.  

Until recently the gamekeepers would have caught up all the hen birds, put them in enormous pens together with a few prime cock birds, and collected their eggs which were exchanged for live chicks.  It's no longer financially advantageous so, there are many females left around the countryside for the cock birds to fight for. The weaker of the birds find themselves with small areas with a few if any hens.  The stronger will mate and, if the fox, badger or other predators allow there will be a semi wild population next year.  
Although pheasant were first introduced to the UK around the 10th century AD, they became almost extinct by the 17th century.  It was only in the 1830's that were imported again and  became popular game birds. As gamekeepers released them during the shooting season many survived to naturalise. Today, over 30 million birds are released every year in the UK.  The systems that are used to manage the shoots are designed to benefit all wildlife and the gamekeepers actually play a very important part in wildlife preservation. 

Most of the birds for the shooting estates are now imported from France where they are incubated in huge numbers and far cheaper than can be done in the UK.