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I have a love-hate relationship with the Common (or Ring-necked) pheasant, a species native to Asia and perhaps SE Europe but introduced in its MILLIONS to the UK. Here's a brief thread on this species and what it means for us in the UK... #birds #ornithology 
Across the British countryside, the Common pheasant is ubiquitous, typically being the only 'large groundbird' you might see. Lone males - often calling loudly (gogOK!) - are commonly seen, as are groups of females and juveniles. They're everywhere in agricultural landscapes.
Because they look great - they're attractive, large, and represent a body shape we don't see in other commonly encountered British birds (more on that in a minute) - I think we mostly enjoy their presence in the land here...
But the reason these birds are here is because they're released, in their millions, for the shooting industry. Apparently, something like 35 MILLION of these birds are released in the UK EVERY YEAR for hunting. >>35 MILLION<<.
It's bad enough that these animals are being raised just to be shot... (and, no, they're not all eaten). They're also naive, with no experience of predators, roads or other sources of mortality. Huge numbers of these released pheasants are killed on our roads...
The main cause for concern, however, is their ECOLOGICAL IMPACT. No-one seems to have thought about it until recently, but these millions of alien pheasants are eating millions of native animals: pheasants are predators of small vertebrates as well as insects, molluscs etc...
Is it coincidental that that native amphibians, reptiles and numerous invertebrate species have undergone massive, nationwide declines in recent decades? Other factors have contributed to these declines, for sure. The impact that pheasants have on such animals is little studied.
Note that pheasants are surprisingly formidable animals. They can readily and easily subdue such animals as small mammals, lizards and even pretty big snakes. Here's a British pheasant eating a native snake; photo by John Tomsett...
Ecological studies show that pheasant presence in the UK has an impact on hedgerow structure and invertebrate community structure. Some of this research was conducted by game conservation trusts themselves (eg, gwct.org.uk/research/scien…). Consider the impact on nesting birds...
It should be said at this point that the UK - even here in the depauperate, over-populated south - did previously have widespread native galliforms, with the Black grouse occurring across most of the UK (today it's restricted to the north and to Wales). But....
... these species (more herbivorous than the Common pheasant) were NEVER as super-abundant as the pheasants introduced for hunting, whose populations in most areas are way higher than anything seen in the native range of the species.
People in the UK today are increasingly aware of, and speaking out against, the massive ecological damage caused by the upland management involved in driven Red grouse shooting: read @MarkAvery's #Inglorious if you haven't already...
@MarkAvery It's now pretty clear that similar stink needs to be made about the pheasant shooting industry; it's wholly irresponsible and, legally and ethically, full of bullshit. Farmed, released pheasants are currently legally classified as 'wild birds', for example...
@MarkAvery .... and those releasing them are somehow allowed to put these TENS OF MILLIONS of reared, ecologically damaging livestock into environments already under massive pressure from development, agriculture, pollution and so on. This isn't right.
@MarkAvery So there we go. I enjoy seeing pheasants and admire them regularly. And they're one of the few, easily seen large birds we have in the UK nowadays. We've killed just about everything else. But their widespread presence here is as the footsteps of doom.
UPDATE: I stated in this thread that 30 million #pheasants are released into the UK countryside every year. This turns out to be an underestimate, the correct figure is more likely 41-50 million. Hard to know for sure as there's hardly anything done in the way of monitoring.
