Pheasant’s out for the count
The sparkle seems to be rubbing off the most bejewelled bird lurking in the British countryside. Sadly, golden pheasants seen these days are no longer the wild birds that once thrilled generations of birdwatchers.
Three decades ago there were as many as 2,000 of these brightly coloured wonders at large in East Anglia and Scotland, having originally been released by the Victorians to brighten up woodlands.
Male golden pheasants look like Faberge creations with their fiery scarlet belly and gilt ‘judge’s wig’ draping down to the shoulders. A marble-effect tail and hints of iridescent blues and greens only give them more dazzle.
The first established golden pheasant breeding population dates back to a release in 1880 near Thetford, Norfolk.
Over subsequent years, numbers grew to the point where the species was accepted as naturalised – alongside its close relative the Lady Amherst’s pheasant – and so admitted to Category C of the official British List.
Truly wild golden pheasants are inhabitants of the dense bamboo forests that coat the mountains of central and south China but, over the years, I have witnessed several fleeting glimpses of males speeding like roadrunners through the dense scrub of a forest close to the Norfolk coast.
I also count a golden pheasant that my mother found lurking behind her prized rose bushes at the family home in Bedfordshire back in the early 1970s, although its provenance has always remained dodgy.
New research means birdwatchers will seriously have to start asking themselves if their sightings can be accepted as encounters with countable birds.
Scientists have been reviewing literature and speaking to people working in the countryside as well as birdwatchers and conclude there are between 37 to 40 wild golden pheasants left in the UK.
However, these birds are dependent on food provision, supplementary releases and predator control, so cannot be considered as naturalised.
Although golden pheasants continue to be popular exhibits in bird collections, “there is no evidence to suggest they persist in the UK as a self-sustaining population in 2023,” say researchers.
They are dependent on predator control and food provision