Abstract
Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) are commonly killed on UK roads, presenting a threat to motorists and a loss to the game shooting industry. Pheasants may be inherently susceptible, or the recent increase in their artificial rearing and release may have exacerbated the situation, either through population increases or because artificial rearing has altered movement behaviour. We compared intra-annual patterns of roadkill reported in the UK from the 1960s (prior to the onset of mass release programmes) with that from the 2010s (when pheasant release was well established and widespread), considering roadkill sex and locations and accounting for changes in traffic levels. Pheasants in the UK are disproportionately likely to be reported killed on roads. However, this likelihood has not changed notably over the past 50 years. Instead, the timing of roadkill has changed. Pheasants in the 2010s are no longer susceptible during their breeding season, unlike in the 1960s, perhaps because relatively few breed successfully. Instead, roadkill first peaks in September–November as pheasants disperse from release pens, females first. Roadkill declines over winter, but when supplementary feeding ceases in February, we see a second peak in roadkill. Roadkill rates are higher in regions of the UK where there is little arable farming and hence natural food supplies are scarce.
Highlights
A pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) lying dead on the side of the road is a common sight in the UK
The scale of pheasant release has increased by approximately 900% since the 1960s as efficient artificial rearing methods have been developed [3]
Pheasants artificially reared in barren environments had poorer spatial memory [9]; reared pheasants are typically poorer flyers than birds born in the wild [10]; and released birds become dependent on supplementary feeding at fixed points during the shooting season, after which feeding is commonly stopped and pheasants have to search for novel feeding sites during late winter/early spring [11]
Summary
A pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) lying dead on the side of the road is a common sight in the UK. Collisions with pheasants were implicated in 65 accidents per year (between 1999 and 2003) that led to human injury, with approximately 6% of these. The scale of pheasant release has increased by approximately 900% since the 1960s as efficient artificial rearing methods have been developed [3]. Species of birds more abundant next to roads are more likely to be involved in vehicle collisions [4,5]. Pheasants in the UK may be unusually vulnerable to vehicle collision because of the conditions under which the vast majority of birds in the UK have been reared and managed post-release. Pheasants artificially reared in barren environments had poorer spatial memory [9]; reared pheasants are typically poorer flyers than birds born in the wild [10]; and released birds become dependent on supplementary feeding at fixed points during the shooting season, after which feeding is commonly stopped and pheasants have to search for novel feeding sites during late winter/early spring [11]
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