A native of Asia, Phasianus colchicus was introduced for game and has since escaped into the wild as a naturalised species. They feed on small invertebrates as well as fruit and seeds and are often seen near ploughed fields in our area of Cheshire.

We rarely saw pheasants when we first moved to Cheshire in 1983 but since then they have increased. This cock pheasant adopted the field opposite and our garden as its territory and was regularly seen strutting it stuff and totally ignoring the cat too.