Cats vs pheasants

I had some rather unusual visitors in the garden today: two pheasants. Couldn't get amazingly good shots of them because I was so far away, but I did manage a few grainy pictures.

Now, I do live in the country, but I'm right in the middle of a village, so generally speaking, 'wildlife' of this sort doesn't tend to make house calls - in fact, this was the very first time.

I didn't mind them being in the garden, given that there's not much growing at the moment, and given also that it was at least somewhere safe from the perils of the open fields and woods.

But I didn't think they'd remain safe for long from another of my garden visitors. And I was right.

Pretty soon, one of my neighbours' cats began to take a serious amount of interest.

Prompting a little bit of flying around as it sprung up onto the pheasant's perch on the fence.

But then oddly, the pheasants seemed to forget they could fly.

Leading to a game of hide and seek amongst the raised beds (spot the cat!)

Feeling I had to put a stop to it, I popped outside, at which point both pheasants remembered what wings were for, and the cat scarpered back next door.