BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Pheasant

PHEASANT
Phasianus colchicus

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: not listed (introduced)

Long-term trend

England: moderate increase

UK population size

1,800,000–1,900,000 females in 2000 (Robertson et al. 1989, updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

Status summary

Pheasants have increased in abundance since the 1960s, at a rate that appears to be accelerating, but it must be noted that numbers of this introduced gamebird are determined principally by releases of reared birds for shooting (Marchant et al. 1990). The Game Conservancy Trust estimates that about 20–22 million birds are released in the UK each autumn, a figure that has increased approximately four-fold since the mid 1960s (Tapper 1999). More than two million newly released birds are expected to survive until spring, when they must form the major part of the breeding population.The BBS records increase in England and Wales, but little change in Scotland since 1994. During 1968–88, a period when the total biomass of birds in Britain fell by an estimated 10%, CBC data indicate that Pheasant biomass rose by about 2,500 tonnes – more than ten times more than any other species (Dolton & Brooke 1999). High Pheasant densities potentially have negative effects, that have not been adequately studied, on native UK birds: these include the effect on the structure of the field layer, the spread of disease and parasites, and competition for food (Fuller et al. 2005).

Population changes

Productivity trends

Productivity information is not currently available for this species

Additional information


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This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Barimore, C., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. & Thewlis, R.M. (2007) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2007. BTO Research Report No. 487. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 3 January, 2008