Joggers in quaint village suddenly have a very unusual running partner

03 March 2024 , 09:00

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Jasper Copping with Fez the pheasant (Image: No credit)

Runners in a quiet village have found an unlikely jogging partner - a wild pheasant named Fez.

Jasper Copping, 46, runs every weekday morning through Shotesham, Norfolk and in the last two weeks noticed he wasn't alone. Joining him has been a pheasant keeping Mr Copping's pace as he runs alongside a field on the outskirts of the village. The father of two said he wasn't the only runner to have been accompanied by the bird he's named Fez and has spoken to others who have also become fond him.

He said: "I have never seen a pheasant behave like this. I first noticed him about two weeks ago, keeping pace next to me in the field by the road. He has done it on every run since then. I call out for him as I approach and usually see him waiting in the undergrowth by the side of the road, or on the field next to the road."

Fez the pheasant has become everyone's favourite running partner (No credit)

"He waits until I reach him and then simply runs alongside. Sometimes I stop when I reach him and he will wait. He will vanish from view for a while in the hedges and undergrowth, but then appear, still next to me once we've passed them." Mr Copping said he named the pheasant Fez after shortening the bird's name while calling out to him.

"I called out to him: 'you there, pheasant?' or 'ready, pheasant?' then it became 'ready, Fez? Occasionally I find him on the opposite side of the road, which is a bit frustrating as it is a very high verge and I can barely see him. Once, as I approached, he was on the road itself and ran towards me. Then he turned turned and ran with me only about a metre in front."

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As Mr Copping reaches the end of the field and heads towards houses, he said Fez stops running and then re-joins him on the loop back. The journalist for a local paper said: "I will often stop to chat with him at this point. The other day, I'd stopped and I was talking to this pheasant and another runner approached.

"I was a bit embarrassed to have been caught talking to a pheasant so I explained about him. And she said he did the same thing with her.She's been running with him for even longer." Mr Copping and Fez run together for about 250m before they return to their own homes.

S P Jones