BISHOPSTONE'S very own unpleasant pheasant is gaining quite a reputation.

The boisterous bird has attacked a handful of innocent passers-by in recent weeks, including 57-year-old Bishopstone woman Monica Vince, who featured in the Journal last month after she was set upon while walking her dog.

Now the infamous bird has been officially identified by experts at the World Pheasant Association, based in Fordingbridge, as a Reeves pheasant.

Journal reader Peter Hancock of Pitts Lane, Bishopstone, e-mailed us saying he regularly runs along the track between Bishopstone and the A354, where the feathered fiend has claimed several victims.

Mr Hancock took a few snaps of the bad-tempered bird and sent them to the association, which says Reeves pheasants are endangered in their native China and are known to be more aggressive than the common ring-necked variety.

The bird has a distinctive black and white head, a golden body and very long tail feathers, which are used to decorate masks in Chinese opera.

Helen Holdsworth, of Netton Street, Bishopstone, took this picture of the pheasant last week and also has had lucky escapes on the few occasions she has come into contact with the bird.