There are three categories of Red-crested Pochards which occur in a wild state in the UK: escapes from captivity, ferally breeding birds and genuine vagrants from Europe. Unfortunately for any one individual found in the wild, working out which of the categories it fits into is usually impossible so proving you've seen a genuinely wild vagrant here is a hopeless task. Leucism is frequent among captive (and thus escaped) birds.
The pair shown in the first set of photos below became the first ever pair of Red-crested Pochards to breed in Norfolk.
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male and female Red-crested Pochards, Titchwell (Norfolk, UK), 20th March 2009
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male and female Red-crested Pochards, Ebro Delta (Cataluña, Spain), 20th May 2013
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female Red-crested Pochard, Quinta do Lago (Algarve, Portugal), 15th April 2006
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male Red-crested Pochard, Quinta do Lago (Algarve, Portugal), 15th April 2006
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juvenile (left), eclipse male (centre) and leucistic female (right) Red-crested Pochards, Swanton Morley (Norfolk, UK), 27th August 2007
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captive male and female Red-crested Pochards, Blakeney collection (Norfolk, UK), 16th May 2009
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captive eclipse male Red-crested Pochard, Blakeney collection (Norfolk, UK), 25th September 2012
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captive male Red-crested Pochard, Blakeney collection (Norfolk, UK), 18th January 2004
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captive eclipse male Red-crested Pochard, Blakeney collection (Norfolk, UK), 6th October 2012 - pretty sure this is the same bird as above from 25th September
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captive male and female Red-crested Pochards, Blakeney collection (Norfolk, UK), 4th December 2010
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captive male Red-crested Pochard, Blakeney collection (Norfolk, UK), 16th April 2011
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captive male Red-crested Pochard, Pensthorpe (Norfolk, UK), 9th March 2014
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captive male and leucistic female Red-crested Pochards, Blakeney collection (Norfolk, UK), 15th October 2011
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female Red-crested Pochard, Holkham Park (Norfolk, UK), 4th February 2012
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male Red-crested Pochard, Bittering (Norfolk, UK), 10th June 2013
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eclipse male Red-crested Pochard, Bittering (Norfolk, UK), 2nd July 2013 - same bird as as above
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female Red-crested Pochard, near Portopal di Capo Passero (Sicily, Italy), 3rd May 2012
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leucistic male Red-crested Pochard, Flixton GP (Suffolk, UK), 11th February 2012 - asides from the leucism (pale wings) indicating a likely captive origin, this bird shared a lake with large numbers of wildfowl that have been released for shooting
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captive Red-crested Pochards (and White-headed Duck), Martin Mere (Lancashire, UK), 28th December 2003
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captive Red-crested Pochard (with Chiloe Wigeon), l'Eucaliptus (Cataluña, Spain), 21st May 2013
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captive leucistic female Red-crested Pochard, Grange-over Sands (Cumbria, UK), 28th December 2011
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captive Red-crested Pochard, Pensthorpe (Norfolk, UK), 9th March 2014
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captive leucistic female Red-crested Pochard, Grange-over Sands (Cumbria, UK), 27th December 2012
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captive female Red-crested Pochard, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 23rd December 2015
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