This gorgeous pheasant, native to China, is an avicultural favourite. British birds have their origins in the deliberate or accidental releases of captive birds.

Past introductions in scattered parts of Britain – from Perthshire to Cornwall and Sussex – have led to populations that apparently sustained themselves for several decades. Almost all of these are now extinct and the status of this species on the British List therefore warrants review. Birds once bred in East Anglian pine plantations, Sussex Yew forests, and in scattered locations where Rhododendron was invading native woodland.

The reasons for the extinction of once-successful Golden Pheasant populations remains a mystery. Where deer have increased, closer grazing of the ground layer might have played a part, though in many former sites the habitat appears unchanged. Increases in the scale of releases of Pheasant and partridges on shooting estates have been considerable and might have mediated declines through competition or disease.