Speeding drivers on country roads are killing up to one-fifth of Britain's pheasants, risking their own and other drivers' lives and causing hundreds of pounds' damage to their vehicles each year says the AA.
"Rural roads are among the most dangerous and wandering pheasants are yet another hazard that drivers must expect in the autumn. The only way to cut the number of accidents is for drivers to drop their speed," says Andrew Howard, the AA's Head of Road Safety.
Autumn is one of the peak times for pheasant fatalities on the roads with lots of young 'unstreetwise' birds around, according to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Birds lack bifocal vision and cannot judge the speed of cars bearing down on them as they peck the road surface for the grit that is vital to their digestive process. BTO advice for drivers is to slow down and flash their headlights to attract the birds' attention and give them time to escape.
AA Legal Advice warns that, although drivers do not have to report an accident with a pheasant to the police, under the Game Act they are not legally allowed to take it home.
The above was printed in The Honiton and Cullompton News
See also recipe "Pheasant with Cream and Cider"