The Call

Standing aloft on top of the tree stump where I put food for the foxes at night this red-legged partridge was calling. You can see his little white throat all puffed out and you can even see his tongue. A very distinctive 'chucka-chucka' sound echoed round the field but there were no answering calls so he may not stay around. 

The hen lays up to 15 eggs in a lined scrape in the ground; she often has 2 separate nests, incubating one herself and letting the cock bird do the other. Not being covered up when she leaves the nest there is a high rate of loss from predators such as stoats, rats foxes etc. The newly hatched chicks can run and fly after about 2 weeks which they really need to to be safe. 

Hubs has named him Francois due to him being a French partridge. They were introduced here about 200years ago from France after over-shooting had reduced the common partridge numbers.