Good morning
This is my first post and have been interested in bird-watching for a while.
On Sunday for the second time in 4 weeks or so I saw this pheasant locally to where I live near Preston, Lancashire. I went back with my daughter and we tracked it through a field and found it again and she took this photo. Please can someone confirm this is a Reeves Pheasant as I believe it is? I presume it has escaped from someone's collection, but have never seen one before, nor have I noted on line that I can see of other sightings.
Cheers BigG
Yes, that's a male Reeve's Pheasant. Quite a frequent escapee, and has bred in the wild in Britain.
psst, want to see my blog? http://mazzaswildside.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you aiki - You say it's a frequent escapee, is it likely to survive in the UK - i.e. will it become a more common sight in the years to come?
They do seem to survive well in the wild here, and with escapees known to be breeding, the species could become properly established. It's difficult to predict. For example, Golden and Lady Amherst's Pheasants (from east Asia, like Reeve's) have both established small breeding populations in Britain but neither species has really spread or prospered, and in fact Lady Am's is on the verge of dying out here.