Poor pheasant....

[asgm12]

Hi! I feel awful. I hit a pheasant with my van at 40mph, it flew straight into wingmirror which moved inwards a bit (its hinged) and looks like its slid lengthways down the body of the van at same height as wingmirror (clean streaks in the muck down the van). I couldn't stop and check on that particular road but I saw it in the mirror in the kerb/gutter edge but couldn't tell if it was alive. is it likely to have been killed outright at that speed? I feel rather guilty.

what a waste of good food, you should have stopped the car, wrung its neck to make sure and taken it home and put it in the pot.

Pheasants are an unmitigated nuisance they deserve to die!

Having had one smash my windscreen and cost me £50, they are not my favourite creatures. They breed them round here and they are constantly trying to cause road accidents.

They are unbelievably stupid and exceptionally lazy. I think their tails must weigh them down because they never bother flying until it's too late.

Don't feel sad OP you have just provided dinner for a nice sensible buzzard that soars majestically in the sky, instead of ambling across blind bends.

not their tails, their enormous chests - they must be the least aerodynamic birds which can fly. They can actually get out of the way quicker running

I've done it too, OP - I used to drive to work along a narrow winding lane with hedges both sides & one flew out just in front of me - no way of avoiding it. I couldn't even see it in my rear view mirror so feared I was driving home with it plastered to my radiator grille like a hunting trophy but fortunately it wasn't there - it must have been smacked back into the hedge

Agree with Nigella - pheasants are delicious. Never fun to hit anything on the road though.

'Tis true, they are busier puffing out their chests and saying aren't I beautiful, than looking or listening for 5 ton tractors.

I agree pheasants are beautiful birds, but for the last 10 years or more, we've been hassled by pheasants from the local swamp adjacent to Norfolk Broads, in our garden. I know we live here by choice, but they could stay in the swampy woods by the river with woodpeckers, pigeons and crows. However they arrive in March/April, peck at tulip bulbs, eat bird seed and lovingly sowed seedlings, scare away garden song birds and attack their reflections in windows and car panels. On occasion, they (males)will chase me , if I get between the cock and his mate when I'm doing my spring gardening routine, very territorial ie crowing, strutting and flapping of wings.
After years of frustration, and with some research, I lost my rag last week, chased the cock, threw stuff at him ie garden fork, trowel, gravel, shouted swear words at him, and he disappeared into the hedge with a squawk back into the swamp, closely followed by his mate, not to be seen again (5 days and counting). I hear they also can be scared by dogs and clapping noises (sounds like guns).The song birds have returned, and my garden routine is peaceful again