The culprit

Here is Philip our resident pheasant.

Over the past few years we have almost always had one male pheasant and sometimes a small harem frequenting our garden. One year they did a lot of damage; since then we have fed them corn in the neighbouring field and we have co-existed happily.

About 3 weeks ago Philip became abnormally tame. He has been coming to the door and occasionally sitting in the conservatory. Today I saw him there and went to shoo him away. Carla, the attack cat, saw him too and launched herself into the conservatory. The result was a large bird trying to fly inside and also trying to escape through closed windows. Arghh.

The seedlings in small pots and trays did not stand a chance.

I cleared the worst and left the rest to dry out (wet soil all over carpet)

Here he is later in the afternoon, regally surveying his kingdom.

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He wasn't even easy to photograph!

PS (an important one) Mum has been in bed all day - nasty cough - but in good spirits.