[Fleecewife]

Last year a pair of partridges reared a fairly large mini flock of young here.  Two pairs are now here, presumably about to start laying.   They hang around our wildlife areas and sometimes come into our flower garden.  Today they flew in, saw me out there and the first changed direction at the last minute and flew over the road.  The other one landed in the garden and they started calling to eachother.  The one left behind then set off at a rapid run under the fence, rather than flying.  Meanwhile I could hear a car coming and it didn't take advanced maths to work out that the two were likely to meet in the middle of the road, with a disastrous outcome.  As the car passed there a horrible sound, but when I rushed out to see if I could rescue the partridge, there was nothing there and no blood on the road.   Either the little bird ran faster than I thought, or it got scooped up under the car.  The other one of the pair didn't call any more so I'm hoping the mate is ok and they got back together     The noise was hopefully the tyres of the car running through some mud.  I hadn't expected to be so upset 

[SallyintNorth]

   and 

[sabrina]

We see a lot of pheasant deaths, mostly young birds who seem to think they can outrun the cars. I have often thought they must have a death wish. Only once did I run over one and I was so upset. Hate killing anything but if I had put on my brakes the chances were the car behind me would have hit me.

[SallyintNorth]

I used to live in shootin' country, and at certain times of the year the road would be literally carpetted in partridge.  They were very reticent to lift over the hedges, so you just had to drive with caution through them - for about half a mile!    Over months of practise I discovered that the ideal speed was 22mph.  Any faster and you killed them, any slower and they just flew in front of the car; at 22mph, they knew they had to take avoiding action and would fly into gateways or even over the hedges if they had no other option.

Fleecewife, look away now. 

Oh, and if you do kill a large game bird at 22mph, it's still pot-worthy.     26mph and it's a mangled mess.

[Fleecewife]

Don't worry Sally - my Dad never passed an intact pheasant without it later appearing on the menu.  He shot them too.   We even had a beautiful hare once which was hit by the car ahead of one of my sons.  It was beyond resus so ended up in the pot.
I see plenty of other birds and critters killed on the road, and have had to finish off some badly injured ones.  But this little pair are like my hens, which I hate to see squashed, as we have known them since they were chicks.  Yes - I'm a sad git 
 
Traffic along our road goes at about 60 - it's a blind summit so no chance of avoiding anything at that speed - dogs, cats, sheep, game birds, us !!

[doganjo]

They make good training dummies too 

[SallyintNorth]

But this little pair are like my hens, which I hate to see squashed, as we have known them since they were chicks.  Yes - I'm a sad git 

Not a bit.  It'd be more sad if we didn't notice and care about the wildlife about us.

We currently have a duck comes to the feed troughs in the big meadow opposite the house.  She knows BH's routine, and he looks for her at every feed, worries about her if he doesn't see her... She's not been seen for the last couple of days so we wondered if she's hatched her brood, then yesterday we had torrential  all day and he's worried the nest and/or baby ducklings will have been washed away...

[colliewobbles]

Understand completely - you do become attached and root for them to survive against the odds.

A pair of blackbirds raised 3 healthy young, nesting in our front garden right under our kitchen window, they fledged about 12 days ago.  A couple of days ago we had the horrible suspicion that our cat had taken one of the babies which are still living and feeding in our garden.  Anyway - this morning there are 3 big babies with Dad again so one was obviously just under cover yesterday.

I felt absolutely gutted whilst I thought one of them was dead, especially as our cat may have been the culprit.

Donna

[ZaktheLad]

One of the saddest things I have witnessed was a little moorhen that had been killed in the road.   The mate was still in the road standing by the body.  Made me cry and I have never forgotten the sight. 

[goosepimple]

Hope it was ok Fleece, I'm a bit soppy for wildlife, a bit soppy all round actually.
 
Unfortunately seen quite a few half deads when we lived in Edinburgh - three I can remember distinctly - pheasant, hedgehog, seagull - better for something to be wiped out completely (or not at all of course). 
 
Poor pheasants and grouse just run around the countryside not knowing what they are supposed to be doing or where they should be going poor things.
 
Hope you see your little wild friends again Fleece, these things can affect more on a day when you are feeling low or needing a bit more sleep 

[Ina]

Poor pheasants and grouse just run around the countryside not knowing what they are supposed to be doing or where they should be going poor things.

I think they are often almost "trained to the car" - i.e. the keepers go up to where they've released them in the car, of course, and then feed them right next to it... How are they supposed to learn that the car means "danger"?

[Fleecewife]

One of the saddest things I have witnessed was a little moorhen that had been killed in the road.   The mate was still in the road standing by the body.  Made me cry and I have never forgotten the sight. 

Oh no     I think it's so horrible when animals and birds are squashed on the road because it's something we have done which has totally changed their environment and the dangers they face, so not a 'natural' situation at all.
 
Something similar happened here the other day, but it was a cock chaffinch which was lying toes up in the road, with his little hen hopping round him bewildered.  I must admit I hadn't thought they would do that.  We moved the corpse so the hen didn't get squashed too.  I wonder if she had eggs or chicks to raise on her own now.
 
On a more cheerful note - we have seen that pair of partridges flying together since the near miss, so they are both ok 

[goosepimple]

Good good.
 
The dangers of life on the wild side.  And they have no idea we are looking out for them. 

[colliewobbles]

Have any of you ever seen this sequence of pics? 

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/10/31/one-of-lifes-tiny-dramas/

[goosepimple]

Thanks for posting that, it's very interesting, makes you want to look out for wildlife all the more.  Aren't birds just lovely.