The Flamboyant Pheasant

Nature is so hugely diverse, so beautiful and so radiant. I have always loved Pheasants in all their splendor and especially love the colours and luminous sheen to their feathers. We see LOTS of them here in the Derbyshire Dales, many visit our garden daily and I love to watch the males doing their “square dance” as I call it for their ladies, most of whom are really not that interested and will do anything to keep away from them!

Although they are strictly speaking not indigenous to the British Isles, they are such a common and iconic bird that I wanted to include them.

I affectionately call all Pheasants “Freddy” after our neighbours had called an aging male who used to visit our gardens rubbed off on me! He would wander around making calls that sounded so like “Nice, nice, nice, nice” that he always made us laugh. Sadly, he is no longer with us yet many, many more of his kind grace our gardens now and although none of them have that vocabulary it is always lovely to see them.

Part of my solo exhibition in May 2021, he will be available as the original.