A rare golden pheasant (there are only 100 breeding pairs in the whole country) was seen sitting on a shed roof in Walton, sparking fears that it may have escaped from a private collector.
The rare bird was seen in Manor Rise, Walton, on Saturday 31st March. A Walton resident used the Fix My Street website – normally used to report potholes and other highways problems to local councils – to report the brightly coloured pheasant to the county and borough councils.
They wrote on the site: “It was there for 4-5 minutes before flying away in a southerly direction. I’ve contacted rarebirdlalert.co.uk and the official Staffordshire bird recorder.
“They feel the bird may have escaped from a private collector since wild pairs are only found in Norfolk, north Wales and Dorset. I’ve been informed that the borough council runs Stonefield Park, which has birds of this sort. Have they got a bird missing?”
No birds have escaped from Stonefield Park’s aviary, although they may well have hatched a bid for freedom if they’d caught wind of the consultation into the aviary’s future!
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