PHEASANTS: I'm used to golden, brown and copper-coloured pheasants, ring-necked or not - but black? That was a new one.

As I got nearer, I could see the neck and back feathers gleaming blue in the sunlight - and it was clearly a pheasant.

Expert information was required. For Steve Ayscough, of Farleigh, this was no problem.

"Blue melanistic," he told me promptly, adding that there are also Japanese green pheasants, Mongolian, Manchurian, black-neck and Reeves golden pheasants.

Long ago, Bob Kew, of Cliddesden, mentioned to me that Cliddesden pheasants, on the whole, didn't have white collars, but Ellisfield pheasants did.

I took this as a sign of exclusivity for Ellisfield (of course). However, Steve tells me that ring necks are much more common. As an aside, Emily Taplin, when young, christened them "vicars".

The reason we are seeing such a variety of pheasants now? In the name of sport - because they fly differently.

OWL survey: "Ellisfield is a wonderful place for owls," said Seumas Foster, Ellisfield's bird (and flora and fauna and all things agricultural) expert.

Good news for the British Trust for Ornithology, currently running an owl survey (details on its website).

Most nights we can hear tawny owls calling. They're the "too-wit-too-woo" lot. We also have a barn owl or two, and little owls can often be seen around Ellisfield Green and Church Lane during the day.

RABBITS ran? Where have all the rabbits gone? Mine have disappeared and though they were very ornamental, I don't miss their excavational talents.