TURTLE DOVE

 

A far cry from today's county rarity status, the largest flock of Turtle Doves in the county is of 20 birds near Orrell in mid-August 1978.

 

In 1976 Chat Moss recorded a conservative estimate of 12 breeding pairs of Turtle Doves.

The last confirmed breeding in the county was in 1993 when 3 birds including a juvenile were along Rindle Road from mid-June to the 17th July. This was also the first confirmed county breeding in 10 years!

Since the year 2000, all Turtle Dove records in the county have been as follows:

2001   Vicar's Hall, Boothstown 5th Aug  
2002   Rumworth Lodge 22nd May  
2002   Vicar's Hall, Boothstown 3rd Jun Two birds
2002   Pennington Flash 8th Sep Flew over the swing-bridge
2006   Carrington Lane, Ashton-on-Mersey 6-16th Jul In a garden with Collared Doves