Didn't realise that the Sculthorpe birds were not countable, all Golden Pheasants are dodgy though aren't they?? Although the Woolferton birds are self-sustaining, some of them are supposed to be hybrids (so I am told anyway).
If the Woolferton birds are countable then, have they been reported lately. I think they are much easier to see in the Winter though??
Early mornings/Evenings best??
Cheers
Well, they're all non-native, so dodgy in that respect, but as the Breckland and Wolferton birds were breeding in the wild and, for a while, maintained a healthy self-sustaining population they were added to category C of the British (and Norfolk) list and are therefore considered countable by most listers. In fact both the Breckland and Wolferton populations are in serious decline and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't prove to be self-sustaining in the long term. With smaller numbers they have a reduced gene pool and both populations have started to develop mutations, especially at Wolferton, where as far as I know all birds now have dark throats (var. '
obscurus', often seen in captive birds). I believe UK400 Club no longer accepts the Wolferton birds, though in my opinion there isn't really any more justification for treating them differently from the Breckland birds, at least some of which are also showing dark throats, albeit not so obviously as at Wolferton.
The Sculthorpe birds are a different kettle of fish. They are reported to have been deliberately released (I'm not going to speculate why...). Even if that assertion turned out to be unfounded and they weren't released there, then they must at best be escapees. I think we can be pretty certain that they didn't make their own way there from any self-sustaining feral population.
The Wolferton birds are usually easier to see in winter or better in early spring, but you have a chance at any time of year. I'm not aware of recent reports apart from the one mentioned by Frootshoot above, but that doesn't mean they aren't being seen. I don't think many people look for them at this time of year. But they can be difficult at the best of times, so don't get your hopes up too much!