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Measured Direct Woodland Effects of Released Pheasants Did Not Extend Beyond 500 Metres

Male common pheasant in Hertfordshire, England
Research · Ecology

A field study at 20 shooting sites in England and Wales found that several measured woodland effects associated with released common pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) were concentrated within 500 metres of release pens. The work focused on ancient semi-natural woodland and examined how pheasant numbers and a set of vegetation, dead-wood and soil measures changed with distance from release sites.

Researchers surveyed points 10, 100, 250 and 500 metres from release pens, together with control plots at least 1 kilometre away. Pheasant numbers declined with distance from the pens. Sites closer to release points had fewer seedlings and saplings, lower vascular-plant richness and less decayed wood, although the authors note that the dead-wood pattern may partly reflect the study design.

Measured effects disappeared beyond 500 metres

These differences were not detected beyond 500 metres. This did not mean the pheasants themselves stayed within that distance: late in the shooting season, about one fifth of the surviving birds encountered in the surveys were more than 500 metres from the release pen. Soil nutrients, bare ground and the cover of ancient-woodland indicator species did not show consistent changes with distance, while nitrogen-tolerant plants and weeds were more common farther from pens rather than nearer them.

The authors conclude that, in ancient semi-natural woodland outside release pens where birds were not deliberately concentrated, the direct effects they measured did not extend beyond 500 metres. They say this supports the scale of the 500-metre buffer used in English licensing around designated sites. The study did not survey places such as feeders or game cover where keepers deliberately concentrate pheasants, so the authors restrict their conclusion to unmanaged dispersal away from release pens.

Sources and image credit

  1. Madden, J. R., Woodburn, M. I. A., Bealey, C. E., Werling, J. L., Banks, A. N., Abrahams, D., & Sage, R. B. (2026). An evaluation of the distance at which direct ecological effects of released pheasants extend beyond their release sites. Ecology and Evolution, 16(3), e73170. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.73170Primary open-access field study first published 4 March 2026. Surveys around 20 pheasant release pens in ancient semi-natural woodland in England and Wales found several vegetation and dead-wood differences nearer pens, with measured direct effects not extending beyond 500 m.

Image: Peter O'Connor (anemoneprojectors) / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr — male common pheasant photographed at Ardeley, Hertfordshire, England, on 16 March 2018; representative species image, not a bird from the study sites. · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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