It's not that easy to get a good look at a Jay but this last few days they have been a bit more noticeable. They are well known for storing acorns during the autumn, read about that here . I caught sight of this bird from my pit hide and realised that he had an acorn which he was going to bury. He returned several times to the same gate post and each time he dropped in to the grass beneath to hide his acorns. It's said that they can bury up to 5000 and then remember where most are when the weather gets worse and food is more difficult to find. If you stop and think about it, that is such an amazing thing on so many levels. I have often cautioned against believing everything you read on the internet and during my "surfing" around the web I kept reading about this magical 5000 which has obviously been copied and taken as read and then stated as a fact, just the way that I have, but it's worth being cautious. Another "fact"..... or is it just another recycled statement that has been repeated ad lib on numerous sites, is the reported shortage of acorns because of a bad acorn harvest this year? Really? There isn't a shortage in Devon as far as I can tell, for example, an Oak Tree that I pass every day is covered with Rooks and Magpies all eating the acorns and the ground beneath is covered with fallen acorns. It doesn't look like a shortage to me. Obviously if there is a shortage there will be a food shortage for not only Jays but other birds and we may get an influx of birds from the continent. The weather at the end of the week is set to be a blast of cold arctic air from the north and perhaps we may then get our first real influx of winter thrushes such as Redwings and Fieldfare.
A lot of people think of the Ring-necked Pheasant as a native British bird but it's not. Yes, they do breed and they are recognised on the list of breeding British birds and "twitchers" will add them to their lists. However they were first brought here by the Romans getting on for 2000 years ago. They are thought of as semi-domesticated and hundreds of thousands are reared and then released annually. Pheasants are interwoven in to the very fabric of British Society. They are as much a part of the affluent upper-class as the Stately Home, Dressage and of course the Game Keeper who's job is to rear the young Pheasants to their first autumn. In days gone by the Game Keeper was responsible for the extermination of all manner of wildlife, in fact anything that could potentially take the young pheasants. This included Foxes, Stoats, Weasels, Martins all Birds of Prey, Magpies, Jays, Crows, Rooks and of course Magpies. Fortunately we live in a more enlightened age where laws are in place to prosecute gamekeepers who shoot and poison Birds of Prey but only today the RSPB stated that more needs to be done to punish offenders. It may seem nice to see pheasants as we are out and about but with thousands and thousands of birds released in to the environment annually, and all competing with the native wildlife very little research has been undertaken to asses the impact they may or may not have. Any birds breeding independently in the spring are simply the lucky survivors of the autumn shoots.
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