Would you like to be woken up at 4.30am each morning if you are retired and didn’t have to get up early to go to work! ? Lately a pheasant has taken to roosting overnight in the garden and decided that if he was awake at 4.30 then everybody else should be awake too! Thank goodness the last few mornings have been very foggy and misty and he hasn’t woken up until 6.30, an improvement!
I keep telling him that I have a lovely recipe for braised pheasant cooked in Madeira wine but he doesn’t seem interested.
He has found where I put out the bird food and seems to think that it is all for him. No need to get up on the table though, hope he had clean feet!
Rushing away because he saw me through the window.
He is getting more courage as the days go by and has now taken to following me round the garden, he must hope that I will have some seed in my pocket…..I usually do.
What on earth is he doing on the conservatory roof ? This is just under our bedroom window, no wonder he sounds so loud if this is where he spends the night!!
It’s no use looking at me like that, it still doesn’t make me love him at 4.30 am!
In spite of everything he really is a beautiful handsome bird, and the colours of his feathers shining in the sunlight are fantastic. Maybe I will have to buy a good pair of ear plugs if I want to sleep beyond 4.30 in the morning!! Last year I did a short post about a pheasant that was waking us up, is this the same one I wonder? After I had posted his story we weren’t woken up by him again so I’m hopeful that this works this time! Does anything wake you up in the morning apart from an alarm clock?!
Those are very nice captures of the pest! The tree frogs are in full force here, all night long, so it’s kind of a background noise at this point. That recipe with Madeira sounds yummy if Mr. Pheasant starts up again….
Thanks Cyndy lol! might get the recipe book out if he doesn’t behave! Tree frogs sound nice and they look so cute too, I think I could maybe drift off to sleep with them in the background.
The neighbours’ dogs unfortunately. It seems we’re the only ones in the village who don’t have pets. It’s not too bad if we’ve had a good night sleep but my husband is an on-call engineer and is often called during the night to fix faults. Last night he was called at 2am and didn’t get to bed till 6am and the only got a few hours sleep before the dog chorus started. It’s a lovely quiet village when the dogs aren’t outside, it’s such a shame. As soon as we can afford to we’re probably going to move.
Hopefully the pheasant won’t hang around for too long. I’m guessing it’s found a food source and doesn’t want to stray to far. We used to live near a rookery and that was 5am every day and then we used to live under the flight path to Heathrow. The transatlantic flights used to come in from 5am onwards and were always the noisiest planes. I’m beginning to think we need to find a deserted island somewhere!!!
Oh dear WW, I’m beginning to think the pheasant isn’t so bad compared to what you have had to put up with! I know farm dogs have to be outside at night but would have thought that others should be inside, once one starts to bark then they all join in, poor you! Hope you find somewhere really quiet so you can sleep soundly.
I’ve tried a few times to leave a message on your last post, but have not been successful, will try again later.
Unfortunately sometimes (ok, quite often) not even the alarm clock wakes me up! I wish I had more time in the morning to watch my garden instead of rushing from the kitchen to the bathroom to the car… Maybe you can send me over that beautiful pheasant of yours, it would solve many of my morning issues… ow, ehm, maybe can you send a bottle of that madera wine along with the bird? 😉
Really wish I could send him over Alberto, complete with the Madeira!! Oh, to be young again and sleep as soundly as you do, soon the dawn chorus of all the other birds will be starting, maybe I won’t notice him so much amongst all the others!
As Wellywoman does, we live in Dog Heaven Village. Everyone but us, has not just a dog, but dogs. Now I hear only a small chirping frog.
It would seem that dogs are a problem on opposite sides of the world Diane, such a shame. Chirping frogs, I think I could live with, I remember a holiday in the south of France where we had them croaking at us all night, at least I think it was all night because I soon went to sleep and they were still at it next morning!
What a beautiful bird…. We don’t get many of these around here – I think Chester would be his best friend ha ha….. These birds are very smart and he probably will take to you if you keep talking to him. This is my first time on here and I just love how you manage your garden – will definitely need tips when we get ours up and running this summer….
Lovely to hear from you Katrina, I think Chester would be like our old dog Gemma, she wouldn’t have allowed the pheasant to stay very long, maybe she would have thought like me, dinner on legs!! Looking forward to seeing photos of your garden in the summer!
Very attractive foliage, its decorative value does provide some compensation I suppose for lost sleep. I would have thought the culinary threat would worked though … maybe it lacks imagination. The worst sounds I hear are dogs as well. Horrible. We do have a dog, but I don’t think Potter barks (much).
Lovely to hear from you Catmint, hope you are feeling better. He is a handsome bird isn’t he but maybe a bit stupid!! More dogs disturbing sleep. never knew it was such a worldwide problem. I remember when we were in Sierra Leone for a month a couple of years ago, that the native dogs barked all night long and sleep was almost impossible!
As a relatively early riser, I don’t think I’d mind too much being woken up by this beauty. However, I have to put up with waking up to the sound of feral pigeons cooing and wondering if they’ve broken through the defences onto my balcony. Recently, the answer to that is yes. Drives me nuts as they walk all over my herb plants and, once I get my seedlings out, will eat all of those. Planning to put up new netting at the next available opportunity!
We have wood pigeons here Caro and like you, their cooing is rather a nice wake up sound, however damage is another matter! Not surprised you are fed up with them, good luck with your barricades!!
Sorry to admit this but he really is a stunner of a bird!!
But waking you up that early would have not be a way for him to strike up the best of friendships with you!!
I have recently ….stupidly may I add adopted a little mini sausage dog who could no longer be cared for & as much as I look into her deep big almond shaped adorable brown eyes……I’m not impressed she whines for me every morning at 4.30am 🙁
She has a dog flap & a 15 year old dog for company ….but insists on trying to coax me out of bed every morning …..& stupidly I do because I feel guilty for her waking up anyone else 🙁 oh well at least she’s happy & full of beans unlike me 🙂
Maybe you’re beautiful pheasant will find a girlfriend & venture off giving you some peace & quiet !!….or maybe he may bring her & a small clan of little ones back ….good luck x
Hi Tracy, Mr.Pheasant has now gone to spend the summer? in the fields next door, with all his girlfriends, he must have at least 1 dozen! I’m hoping he doesn’t bring them to visit, even though it would be lovely to see the little ones, because they do dig up plants and bulbs!! Hope your little dog will soon be sleeping longer for you!