As this species declines in its native range, the introduced population in the UK thrives and now accounts for a significant proportion of the world wide population. An extremely popular bird in captivity and escaped individuals may be encountered almost anywhere.
In Norfolk Felbrigg Lake is probably the most reliable site for feral birds. One female below is from there but while some of the others may have originated from a feral population many were tame individuals that are probably more likely to be direct escapes from captivity.
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male Mandarin, South Creake (Norfolk, UK), 21st December 2006
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near-eclipse male Mandarin, South Creake (Norfolk, UK), 22nd June 2007
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male Mandarin, South Creake (Norfolk, UK), 21st May 2007
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near-eclipse male Mandarin, South Creake (Norfolk, UK), 22nd June 2007
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female Mandarin, Felbrigg Lake (Norfolk, UK), 1st January 2009
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eclipse male Mandarin, Creaking Gate Lake (Norfolk, UK), 30th August 2014
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male Mandarin, Normanston Park, Lowestoft (Suffolk, UK), 5th April 2003
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male Mandarin, Titchwell (Norfolk, UK), 5th March 2011
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male Mandarin, Santon Downham (Norfolk, UK), 4th Aprul 2015
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female Mandarin, Santon Downham (Norfolk, UK), 4th Aprul 2015
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pair of Mandarins, Guist Bridge (Norfolk, UK), 26th March 2011 - shame the camera was on the wrong setting!
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The following birds are still in captivity.
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captive Mandarins, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 28th February 2009
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captive Mandarins, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 4th December 2010
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captive Mandarins, Grange over Sands (Cumbria, UK), 27th December 2012
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captive Mandarins, Martin Mere (Lancashire, UK), 26th December 2014
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captive Mandarin, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 13th February 2010
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Whilst leucistic birds are fairly unlikely to be encountered among birds that are bred in the wild, they are quite frequent in captivity, as the following examples illustrate:
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captive Mandarin, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 7th November 2003
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captive Mandarin, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 18th January 2004
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