SWALLOW

The largest gatherings of Swallows in the county are of a deeply impressive 10,000 birds and has been recorded twice. Firstly at Hindley in late September 1980 and again at Pennington Flash when counting was abandoned on reaching 10,000 birds as they came to roost in three separate reedbeds.

An albino Swallow was observed in the Rumworth are in August 1979 and was eventually caught in a ringing session there.

Some ringing recoveries of county Swallows are recorded below:

A Swallow ringed as a first year bird at Walkden on the 23rd September 1990 was retrapped at Ronekiler, Mandal, West-Agder, Norway on the 3rd June 1991.

One ringed near Leigh on the 18th August 1994 was found dead at Woody Cape NR, Alexandra, Cape Province, South Africa on the 26th December 1994, some 10,092kms distant!

A bird ringed at Pennington Flash on the 9th September 1995 was retrapped at Bloemfontain, Orange Free State, South Africa on the 12th February 1998, 9597kms from Pennington!