Alpha male will even take on a a Land Rover

My father, Richard Fuller, once told me about the whereabouts of an "alpha" pheasant. This cock bird was a particularly feisty specimen, a real daredevil too, that showed no fear and would attack anything, no matter how large or small. I drove down the side of Cottage Wood near Great Givendale where it was said to rule. At first I saw nothing apart from a few wood pigeons and a brave rabbit. But then I saw a flash of colour out of the corner of my eye.

Out of the wood and in full stride came the cock pheasant, running towards my moving Land Rover. As I slowed down, its intentions became clear – it was trying to get in front of me in order to cut off the vehicle. It soon disappeared from view under the bonnet.

I was wondering what the devil it could be doing, but before I knew it, it had jumped up on to the bull bar of my Land Rover and was striding along the bonnet towards me.

It seemed to understand that I was inside the vehicle and paced up and down the windscreen furiously. I promptly wound up my window – it was surprisingly intimidating being at eye-level with this bird. It stared coldly at me with its beady yellow eye and then began to peck angrily at my windscreen wipers.

I slowly drove forwards. The pheasant didn't like being rocked about and jumped back down onto the ground. I drove on, amused, but was surprised to see him in the wing mirror chasing after me.

An invisible line marked the edge of his territory and as I drove through it, he stopped, held his head aloft, flapped his wings and let out a triumphant croak.

Cocks will patrol along these invisible borders looking for trespassers. It is comical when you see two walking, in parallel along the edges of their boundary, within inches of each other and all the time eyeing each other up. They break up this parallel walk only to face each other. If either steps across the line the trouble will really start.

They hold their bodies tight to the ground and then flash their tails up in the air to test their opponent's nerve.

Then they leap up in the air and try to strike down onto their opponent using the spurs on the back of their legs.

The main sparring season is in Spring as males struggle to maintain the loyalty of a harem of female or "hen" pheasants. Numbers in a harem can range between three and seven females, but depend on the ability of the male. Some males are highly charged and hell-bent on creating a successful harem, while others will be happy just to find a partner.

But, the sparring is not confined just to spring, there has been plenty of pheasant action this autumn too and seemingly more than in previous years.

You would think they had enough on their minds trying to dodge bullets, now that the shooting season is in full swing.

The shorter nights and a balmy October could have something to do with these unseasonable shows of strength. But the fact that there are so many of them about may also have something to do with it.

Pheasants are bred for sport and it is estimated that in excess of two million are reared each year.

This number is artificially high for a single species and as a result the males possibly experience an intense sense of competition.

Originally a native of Asia, it is thought that the common pheasant was introduced into Europe by the Greeks. It was imported into England during the Norman Conquest as a popular food source.

It is fascinating to see the number of different colour variations within the species which range from dark melanistic birds to pale and even white ones.

As an artist, I try and pick the best known of the spectrum – the ring-necked pheasant that sports a white ring around its neck, and

an orangey red body – because I know that these are the colourings that most people recognise.

These are known as ring-necked pheasants and were introduced from China. But you do get pheasants without this white band on their necks, and in fact these pre-date the ringed-neck pheasant in this country and were introduced a century earlier from the Caucasus.

There is such a variety of pheasants in the countryside today. And this, coupled with high volume breeding make it impossible to gauge the number of truly wild pheasants in the country. The birding community is often divided over whether the pheasant should even be included on the official British bird list of the British Trust for Ornithology or not.

In spite of the ongoing controversy about the number of pheasants that are being bred, without them the countryside would be a dull place, especially in winter.

Pheasants, more than any other bird, have shaped the way our countryside looks today.

Large estates and farms have historically laid out their land with maintained woodland, copses and cover strips especially designed with the rearing of these popular game birds for sport in mind.

Whatever your opinion on shooting may be, there is no denying that the practise has brought huge benefit for other wildlife in our landscape – as long as the wildlife is not the sort that predates on pheasant, of course.

Robert is exhibiting his paintings at his gallery at Thixendale from today until November 28. His slideshow of his Africa trips to see the Wildebeest migration in the Masai Mara is on Thursday, November 25.

Details www.robertEfuller.com*