‘Serious flaws’ in study on pheasants and reptiles

A paper by Belgian scientists that claims released pheasants have significant negative effects on reptiles has been enthusiastically promoted by anti-shooting campaigners, although an expert has pointed out that the paper has some “serious flaws”.

The effect of pheasants on adder numbers has been under scrutiny for some time, with herpetologists claiming that pheasants are pushing adders towards extinction, and gamebird experts pointing out that while adders are mainly found on open ground pheasants are released in woodland.

The new paper from the Belgian team found no reptile species on sites where pheasants were released and three different reptile species on the control sites where no pheasants were released.

However, pheasant expert Joah Madden, of the University of Exeter, questioned the methods used by the authors.

Dr Madden pointed out that the release sites and control sites were not the same type of habitat and that the release sites were all clustered close together.

Dr Madden said there were “serious flaws in the methods, which make the work hard to interpret”.

Scientists claim that pheasants have a negative impact on reptiles