More pheasants, I spotted these two on a roof in Water Lane, Radwinter at the Ashdon Road end. Pheasants would appear to be a popular animal to have on a thatched roof, which is perhaps not so surprising when you think just how many of them there are in the countryside! The pheasant is not a native bird to the UK, they originally come from Asia; the ones introduced into this country probably came from British India. The pheasant’s Latin family name is Phasianinae and they exhibit what is known as strong sexual dimorphism, in that male and female birds look entirely different, with the males being highly decorated and colourful and the females being very drab. Their Latin species name is colchicus is Latin for “of Colchis” a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans. Some of you might know that Colchis was also mythically where the golden fleece was supposed to have come from and where Jason and the Argonaughts went to find it!