Hi kass
A warm welcome to the Community from me too. I hope you enjoy our forum. :-)
My Collins complete guide book suggests that 'in recent years, captive-bred forms with essentially violet-blue plumage have been released.'
Might this be like the pheasant that you saw?
Best wishes Chris
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i never knew the came in different colours until they started appearing in the garden. turns out they are pretty common
I think they're quite common too, my mum-in-law has a family of three black pheasants in her garden! One of them is particularly dark, the other two are slightly browner but still very dark.
I love Columbidae.
We get quite a few of these around our area mostly on the local shoots.According to local game keepers they call them Blue Pheasants and are a throw back to some oriental birds imported in the late 19th century.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can