UK's last Lady Amherst's pheasant

Hi Gleb. Unfortunately, this now appears to have been confirmed as a recent escape from captivity (called Betty as it goes!), and that the last of the Bedfordshire feral population really did die out at Millbrook Proving Ground in 2016. It's a species I took quite an interest in, tracking the last birds down (3 at the time) in 2009, and visiting the site until they had dwindled to a single bird (I last went in 2014). There has also been a recent escape wandering around a play ground by a Sainbury's in Bedford. There has been quite a lot of debate about this species being elusive enough to manage to go unrecorded for many years. From your experience you will know that's true in terms of actually getting a sighting. However, males are very noisy in spring and can be heard at quite a distance (e.g. I could hear a bird at Millbrook from 700m away while in the center of Lidllington Village, and I'm sure they could be heard further away than that in suitable weather conditions).

See last post here;

www.birdforum.net/.../page-4

and link to newspaper here;

www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/.../

I am well aware about these claims. Indeed, now there are 2 birds, and a few days after the second appeared it was confirmed as an escape. The other bird, the one which I saw, is most certainly not an escape. First, I find it strange that nobody reported it as an escape since December (as a result, Birdguides and RBA listed it as 'unknown origin', whereas the second bird was immediately confirmed as an escape).
As I have detailed on Birdforum (where everything 'exotic' is an escape without question and if you disagree you're 'bad'), the evidence linking the pheasant in the post to the pheasant I saw is very, very questionable. For a start, I fail to see how my pheasant is in any way related to the very recent escapee- indeed, how the can even be told apart in the field.
Second, I regard the supposed 'game-changing' claim as suspicious because I cannot see how it is even conceivable that the 'owner' of the pheasant can get the gender of that bird wrong (something so critical I disregard her claims immediately).
Third, the bird I observed was wild, based on its extreme elusiveness, shyness and its behaviour around 'predators', such as dogs. I've seen enough of the mad August pheasants to be absolutely certain the bird I saw was wild and different.
Besides, I cannot help but notice the pheasant in the photo is in a different location to where I saw my bird.
I am aware that the pheasants do call from time to time, but if you are not well-versed in bird calls, you will simply ignore them.
Finally, at Millbrook (private area), there could have been females or young birds which then grew up and escaped, explaining the dud in bird calls.

If I'm honest, it will take a lot more than very dodgy Facebook claims to prove to me that the bird on my photo is an escape. And now it is even impossible because of the genuine escape in the area

Definitely not going to try and convince you about the bird you saw, just passing on the established facts as known. To reiterate, though, male Lady Amherst's don't just call a bit, they make very load, distinctive, far-carrying and frequent calls. A fair few people in Bedfordshire know exactly what they sound like, and people have looked/listened for them. That no one seems to have heard one since 2016 (and there were no other known sites since well before that date) strongly indicates to me there were no males left after that date.

Gleb said:

Recently I've been out to see the last male Lady Amherst's pheasant at Flitwick. They were previously thought to have died out in 2016. I, after 1hr 30 mins of nonstop searching in a small wood, managed to get some pretty good photos of it

I think  that is a very good photo you’ve taken.  I don’t know if it was zoomed in then taken or if it was cropped after it was taken but it’s a very good photo regardless.   just thought I’d say since no one has complimented on your photo yet 

PS. Just noticed the comment about getting the gender wrong; is that simply because she called her bird Betty or did she state that she thought it was a female? There is 'Lady' in the bird's name, maybe that's why she gave it a traditional 'ladies' name'? Many birders also used to call this bird (irrespective of sex) simply 'The Lady'.

Postscript....checked the original Facebook post and the owner is definitely referring to the bird as 'she'......make of that what you will.

Great paper here, by the way, if you fancy any further reading;

britishbirds.co.uk/.../V98_N01_P020_025_A002.pdf

She stated the bird as female, which is enough to discredit her in my eyes. What I require is proof of ownership, because otherwise these claims are fairly circumstantial and I fail to see how they even refer to the bird on my photo. As I said, one bird there was confirmed as an escape.
I realise they do call, but the bird can be quite young. You see, when the last male died, females and juveniles could have remained, explaining why they were not heard calling until recently. It will be actually interesting to see if one of them starts calling.

Thanks. That photo was taken on a 420mm lens, without zooming in

If you are happy that this is a bird that descended from the last male at Millbrook, and that males from there for some reason take 6+ years to be mature enough to call, then good for you, cherish your sighting. Any worthwhile contribution I could make has already been made, cheers.