LEACH'S PETREL

 

There has never been more than 2 Leach's Petrels recorded together at any one county site, although this figure has now been achieved on four separate occasions.

 

The largest 'wreck' to occur in Greater Manchester was that of 1952 when 8 individuals were found (mainly dead) in the county, coinciding with about 400 dead birds being found along the Lancashire coast (please note these birds are not included in the 'records by month' chart owing to the lack of dates for these sightings).

Two July county records are puzzling, considering that they both occurred in periods of relatively calm weather and were both observed at Pennington Flash, one of the birds even stayed around for about 6 hours!

Only one Leach's Petrel has ever stayed over night in the county, that at Hollingworth Lake in 1983 which stayed from the 17th to the 18th September.

Storm blown individuals are unsurprisingly often found in locations well away from water and non more so than the 2005 Leach's Petrel that was seen flying along the tarmac in between the planes around the cargo offloading area at Manchester International Airport on the 4th November. The sighting was in heavy rain and the wet tarmac had obviously been mistaken for a body of water by the tired petrel but quite what it made of the huge aircraft it 'pattered' around is anyone's guess.

 

 

1917   Didsbury 25th Nov Found on golf-course
1927   Pennington Flash Nov Found exhausted 
1943   Pennington Flash 19th Oct Seen evidently distressed
1948   Pennington Flash 26th Dec 2 very tired birds seen during a spell of relatively quiet weather
1952   Astley   Found dead
1952   Bolton   Found dead
1952   Boothstown   Found dead
1952   Irlam   Found dead
1952   Leigh   Found dead
1952   Little Hulton   Found dead
1952   Worsley   Found dead
1952   Pennington Flash   Seen alive but shot with the corpse later extracted from the gunner's dustbin and an identification made
1963   Pennington Flash 18th Jul Seen during a spell of relatively quiet weather
1978   Hollingworth Lake 30th Sep  
1978   Longdendale 30th Sep  
1978   Audenshaw Reservoir 30th Sep 2 birds involved
1978   Audenshaw Reservoir 1st Oct  
1978   Orrell 1st Oct  
1978   Pennington Flash 17th Sep  
1978   Pennington Flash 30th Sep 2 birds involved, during a spell of severe westerly gales
1978   Werneth Golf Course 1st Oct Sighting coincided with 400 birds passing the Wirral coast the previous day
1979   Audenshaw Reservoir 16th Oct  
1980   Elton Reservoir 8th Oct During spells of westerly gales
1980   Pennington Flash 10th Sep During spells of westerly gales
1980   Pennington Flash 14th Sep During spells of westerly gales
1981   Scotman's Flash 11th Oct  
1983   Glazebury 10th Oct A freshly dead bird found on a field
1983   Hollingworth Lake 17-18th Sep  
1987   Audenshaw Reservoir 27th Sep 2 birds present
1990   Audenshaw Reservoir 8th Oct A slightly odd sighting in so much as there were no gales reported at the time
1992   Audenshaw Reservoir 6th Sep During it's stay it was lifted off water by a crow and taken to the side of the reservoir, 2 observers flushed the crow and the petrel flew off unharmed
1995   Pennington Flash 9th Jul Stayed for about 6 hours on a nice warm, sunny day
1997   Elton Reservoir 14th Oct  Flew around and settled on water, harassed by gulls and flew off east
2003   Audenshaw Reservoir 23rd Sep  
2005   Manchester Airport 4th Nov Seen flying around the cargo offloading area during heavy rain
2006   Audenshaw Reservoir 4th Dec Seen during a large, unseasonal wreck of this species in the UK
2006   Healey Dell 11th Dec Found dead, during a large, unseasonal wreck of this species in the UK
2006   Heaton Park Reservoir 3rd Dec Seen during a large, unseasonal wreck of this species in the UK
2007   Sale Water Park 12th Nov