A counterpoint to the recent photos and stories of sunburnt Australia.A wonderful photo taken in Ludlow,Shropshire,UK last weekend ,of an old style butcher's shop.
Those are pheasants hanging up outside the shop.Pheasant is a game bird which is traditionally hunted and shot and then hung for a time to allow the meat to mature.It sounds revolting but it is in fact very tasty although it is strong and"gamey" and is very much an acquired taste.Pheasants are now also "factory farmed".The game birds often still have a shot gun pellet or two lodged in them which you have to exercise care not to swallow.In this butcher the different sizes and variations in colours shows that they are game birds - not farmed.In any case I I'm sure that Mr Wall would not consider having farmed pheasants for sale in his traditional shop.
The photo was taken by Roger Putnam,whose photos on TRR are often from his archive.He has just acquired the recently launched "hot" camera-a Sony A7.Sadly he has traded in his Leica X2.The Sony is a very compact camera with a full frame (same size as a 35 mm frame) sensor.For this shot Roger used a Zeiss 35mm F1.8 lens.The quality and in particular the definition is very impressive.Umm.....
Great photo! I noted the Pheasants first. Ring Neck Pheasants are rare in Nova Scotia where I grew up. They were such a surprise to see if I ever came across them while hunting Ruffed Grouse. They easily ran away while I experienced "Buck Fever". And they could run really fast! I did manage to bag one with a BB, gun of all things, when I was a kid. I had run out of BBs and found small nails in Grandpa's shop that fit in the magazine tube. Grandma was astounded to find a small nail pinning the "shoulder blades" of the wings together when she cleaned the bird for cooking in a broth. It was the fluke disabling shot that allowed me to grab the bird and wring it's neck. I have only dined on Pheasant twice in my life. I very much enjoyed both presentations ...Grandma's broth with a glass of her home made Sarsaparilla wine; and Pheasant Under Glass at Three Cheers in Calgary many years later.
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