09 February 2016
The Department of the Environment is carrying out a survey of Jersey’s pheasants to find out more about the birds and understand their impact on local agriculture and wildlife.
The aim of the project is to find out where pheasants live in Jersey, what the population size is and their local impact, including their effect on farmland, and the scale of their impact on native invertebrates and other local wildlife such as lizards and toads.
Pheasants are not native to Jersey and were first introduced in the 1800s, but at that time did not successfully breed. Other attempts to establish a population were made in the 1950s when it is thought they started to breed in the wild in small numbers. By the 1980s due to captive breeding and further introductions, pheasants grew in numbers and are now common in Jersey’s countryside.
A student from the University of Kent is working with the department and the Jersey Biodiversity Centre, along with local volunteers, on a one-year project.
The project’s findings will be used to help the department decide how pheasants should be managed in the future and what their legal status should be.
People can take part in the survey two ways. They can complete an online questionnaire or report sightings of pheasants to the Jersey Biodiversity Centre.
Dead pheasants should be reported to Charmaine Rice on c.rice@gov.je
Pheasant survey
Report a pheasant sighting
gov.je