Game Bird Paintings
Paintings of game bird species found in the United Kingdom
GAME BIRD PAINTINGS
On this page you can view a range of Martin's game bird paintings. He has studied these birds at various locations around the British Isles, but most of the paintings were inspired by his observations around his home in Scotland. The range of birds hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. Species of birds that have historically been described as game birds in Britain include ring-necked pheasants, grey partridge or English partidge, black grouse or blackcock, red grouse, red-legged partridges, ptarmigan, woodcock, capercaillie and snipe. Some of these are now protected species and most have a close season when hunting is not allowed. Close seasons are important as they give the game birds chance to breed successfully and move between breeding and wintering grounds. Sorry most of the game bird paintings on this page are already sold go to Bird Paintings for Sale to view the most recent original works.
"Tumbled Wall", Ring-necked Pheasants
Original oil painting
image 26 x 40 inches
Sold, 3/9/10 Currency
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Ring-necked Pheasant Paintings (Phasianus colchicus)
The common pheasant . The genus name comes from Latin phasianus, "pheasant". The species name colchicus is Latin for "of Colchis" a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans. Most kinds of pheasants are shy forest birds of Asia. The ring-necked pheasant is better adapted to open country and has been introduced in large numbers as a game bird to several parts of the world, including Britain. The pheasant is omnivorous and it's diet varies with season and place. It feeds on wide variety of grains and smaller seeds, fresh green shoots, buds, roots, berries, insects, spiders, earthworms, snails; rarely eats lizards, snakes, frogs, rodents. Diet may include more seeds in winter, more insects in summer.
Flushed Pheasants
Original oil painting
image. 30 x 24 inches
£2225, Sold 22/12/08 Currency Converter
"Standoff" Ring-necked pheasants in snow
Original oil painting
image 16 x 31 inches
(Previously owned with a retouched frame)
FOR SALE
Available through Hatton House Art & Design, Dunkeld
Red Grouse Paintings (Lagopus lagopus scotica)
Red Grouse Moor
Original oil painting
image 36 x 48 inches
SPECIAL COMMISSION Sold 20/4/22 Currency Converter
"Taking Wing", a covey of red grouse
Detail from an original oil painting
See full painting here: Golden Eagle Paintings
Sold 17/2/22
"Lift Off", Red grouse taking flight
Original oil painting
image. 16 x 20 inches
£3000, Sold 22/2/22 Currency Converter
"On Alert", Red Grouse Covey
Original oil painting
image 24 x 36 inches
SPECIAL COMMISSION Sold 2018, £6500 Currency Converter
RED GROUSE
Jointly with the purple-flowered shrub that forms its only home, the red grouse is an icon of Scottish heather moors. No other bird in the world makes such major use of heather. A red grouse eats it, shelters, nests and rears young in it and typically doesn’t move far from its home heath in its lifetime. Patchwork effects on grouse moors show where controlled burning has been done to promote heather growth as red grouse food and cover. Red grouse are year-round residents. In spring, look for cock birds calling and making short song flights. Red grouse are shot either as driven red grouse or using a less intensive walked up shooting method using a few working dogs to flush the birds instead of a long line of beaters.
Black Grouse Paintings (Lyrurus tetrix)
Flight of Black Grouse
Original oil painting
image 30 x 22 inches
£2850, Sold 17/4/08
"Tails Up ", Black Grouse at the Lek
Original oil painting
image 20 x 36 inches
Sold 9/12/12 Currency Converter
BLACK GROUSE
I am very fortunate to live in an area where I can observe these special birds. Black grouse are a real favourite and I revisit the subject regularly.
Black grouse are typically regarded as birds of early successional forest, either coniferous or birch, and of forest-edge habitats. Following reductions in the extent of natural forests, black grouse are now found in structurally similar habitats, such as mosaics of moorland and heathland, early stages of coniferous plantations, rough grazings and traditionally managed meadows.
"Sunrise on the Moor", Black Grouse
Original oil painting
image 21 x 30 inches
£3875 Sold 8/7/15 Currency Converter
Black grouse have been declining throughout virtually all their European range over the last century. In Britain, the decline has been considerable over the last 150 years and the species is now mostly confined to Scotland and north-eastern England, with a small number in Wales. Even where the bird remains, numbers are still declining, in England numbers declined at 10% per year in the early 1990s and around 800 cocks were confined to the Pennine hills.
Since 1989, we have recorded a halving of the number of black grouse males on leks. The current estimate of the British population is 6,500 lekking males in spring. However, numbers fluctuate annually in relation to variations in breeding success.
Capercaillie Paintings (Tetrao urogallus)
Capercaillie - Oil Painting for Sale
Original oil painting
image 29 x 39 inches
£10850 Sold 2/6/15 Currency Converter
The capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is a large game bird of open mature pinewoods. Males have a slate-grey plumage, with a blue sheen over the head, neck and breast, reddish-brown upper wings with a prominent white shoulder flash, a bright red eye ring, and long tail. Females are brown with a dark chestnut-red tail, which is fan-shaped.
The global population of Capercaillie extends throughout the forests of mountainous and boreal regions of central Europe, Scandinavia, northern Asia and Siberia. Its UK range is small and centred on Strathspey, but extends south and west to the woodlands in Perthshire and around Loch Lomond as well as northwards into Ross-shire. The Scottish population of capercaillie is found mainly in native pinewoods, in particular the old Caledonian Forest habitat, with dense ground cover of blaeberry and heather, but will also use commercial conifer plantations and small numbers remain in a few upland oak woods in Tayside. Capercaillie require woodland containing trees of differing ages as well as boggy areas providing a good source of insects for chick feeding, and open areas where the male birds can 'lek'. The European breeding population is large (over 760,000 pairs), with notable populations in Russia and Scandinavia, but there are probably under 2000 capercaillie in the UK.
Common Snipe Paintings (Gallinago gallinago)
Snipe
Original oil painting
image 12 x 18 inches
£1195, Sold 12/9/09
COMMON SNIPE
A meduim-sized wading bird with a long, straight, pointed, black bill. It has a brown body with black bars, a striped head and back and a white belly. The common snipe's legs are shorter than most wading birds' legs. The common snipe usually stays hidden in the grass, but if it is flushed it will burst up from its cover and fly in a zig-zag pattern to evade predators.
Woodcock Paintings (Scolopax rusticola)
"Winter Morning", Woodcock and Silver Birches
Original oil painting
image 20 x 36 inches
£4250 Sold 31/7/16 Currency Converter
WOODCOCK
The woodcock is largely nocturnal, spending most of the day in dense cover. Most of the birds in the UK are residents; in the autumn birds move to the UK from Finland and Russia to winter here. The breeding population has been falling recent years, perhaps because of less habitat as conifer plantations become too mature for woodcocks to find open enough breeding areas. You would be very lucky to see a woodcock, but you may inadvertently disturb one from its resting place, when it flies off, zigzagging between the trees and dropping back into cover.
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Game Bird Prints for Sale
Here are some game bird prints that I haven't featured already on this page.
View the full range of Game bird prints for sale
"Stand Off" Ring-necked Pheasants Print
Available as a canvas print or a framed print
Canvas print reproduced from an original oil painting
The prints are on heavy weight canvas with a hand-finished varnish
Canvas prints reproduced from an original oil painting
The prints are on heavy weight canvas with a hand-finished varnish
Canvas prints reproduced from an original oil painting
The prints are on heavy weight canvas with a hand-finished varnish
Canvas prints reproduced from an original oil painting
The prints are on heavy weight canvas with a hand-finished varnish
Game Birds - A further look at Partridges, Pheasants, Red Grouse and Quails
These game birds forage on the ground. Often found in family groups, most are social birds, but in the pheasants the males have little to do with the family. Most are resident, but quails are long-distance migrants, spending the winter in Africa.
All sizes of game birds, from the tiny quail to the long-tailed, large-bodied pheasants, have with short, curved bills, small heads, rounded bodies and short legs.
This is a bird of open heather moors and is the most numerous grouse in the United Kingdom. The red grouse is a plump medium sized bird with a short tail, rich chestnut brown plumage and white-feathered legs. Males can be identified by a red eyebrow wattle which is very apparent when they call during the breeding season. The wattle is less obvious in other seasons, when both sexes look similar to each other. Often flies low along the contours with fast wing beats and glides with wings curved down.
PheasantA large, long-tailed gamebird. Males have rich chestnut, golden-brown and black markings on body and tail, with a dark green head and red face wattling. Females are mottled with paler brown and black. They were introduced to the UK long ago and more recent introductions have brought in a variety of races and breeds for sport shooting.
Grey PartridgeA medium-sized, plump gamebird with a distinctive orange face. Flies with whirring wings and occasional glides, showing a chestnut tail. It is strictly a ground bird, never likely to be found in pear trees! Groups of 6-15 (known as coveys) are most usually seen outside the breeding season. Once very common and widespread, it has undergone serious declines throughout most of its range and is a Red List species.
QuailA small gamebird - the combination of its stocky body and long, pointed wings makes it quite distinctive. Its upperparts are brown, streaked and barred with buff, while its underparts are a warm buffy orange. Rarely seen it is more usually heard giving its distinctive 'wet-my lips' call. It is the UK's only migrant gamebird, reaching the northern fringes of the its breeding range here. It is a Amber List species because of a partial recovery from its historical decline as a UK breeding species.
Red-legged PartridgeLarger than the grey partridge, it has a large white chin and throat patch, bordered with black. It has a greyish body with bold black flank stripes, and a chestnut-sided tail. It is an introduced species, brought to the UK from continental Europe, where it is largely found in France and Spain.
There are many more species of quails partridges and pheasants in Asia and North America.
More about Partridges, Red Grouse & Pheasants
Partridges (Wikipedia)
Pheasants (Wikipedia)
Red Grouse (Wikipedia)
29 Toberargan Road, Pitlochry
Perthshire PH16 5HG
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UK 07925 549 002
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