Garden Pheasants

The fatter of these two was having a stand off with one of our cats, Gizmo, this morning - outstaring each other across the lawn. When I took a closer look with a longer lens, I noticed the second one, behind the vegetation. The females seem to spend a lot of their time in the undergrowth in a border beside a wall but the males parade up and down outside the house, pecking at the seed that falls from the bird table. In all there must be at least half a dozen of each sex somewhere around at any time, refugees from the nearby estate at Kinlochruel which released them for shooting. Meanwhile Gizmo, and Smew and even Toots (the three cats) watch and watch and watch (Toots usually from behind glass) but so far have not tried to catch. It is smaller birds - and voles and mice - whose bits can be found most mornings in the conservatory.