You may remember that, back in April, a number of people reported having seen a pair of partridges in and around Fearnan.  It seems that lately the partridges have been doing a bit more than just feeding off garden bird tables, as Sue Gardener discovered when she went to collect her hens’ eggs last week.  She found a small brown egg in the nest!

Sue checked with Keith, who confirmed that it’s a partridge egg, seen here alongside a domestic hen’s egg.

Keith also tells us that the birds are, in fact, Red Legged Partridges.  They are released in huge numbers on Glen Lyon estate and elsewhere to be shot on driven shoots. The ones we have in Fearnan are the lucky ones who have moved off the estate and survived the guns. Like pheasants, they have been introduced into this country by man purely for shooting.

They could easily breed in the Fearnan area, so let us know if you see any evidence of this, after their false start in Sue’s garden.