Golden Pheasant

On Friday afternoon my wife Liz, her sisters, and my daughter Zoe saw a male golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) in the grounds of Reading University.  It was being slowly shooed down the drive from Foxhill House by the driver of a van.  Apparently it had escaped from a nearby garden where it was being kept as a pet.  These spectacular birds are native to central China but were introduced to Britain as an ornamental bird for aviaries and parkland.  I was still on my way home from work and so missed all the fun.