'Albino' bird lands in Trawden

2:20pm Sunday 6th July 2008

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A TRAWDEN man couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw a white starling feeding in his garden.

Stunned Alan Southworth, 74, of Boulsworth Drive, was sat in his living room with his wife Lily when they spotted the bird.

He said: “My wife just jumped up and said we had a white bird in the garden. Then we looked and discovered it was a white starling.

“It stayed on the table for about 10 minutes and then it flew off.”

However, retired Mr Southworth managed to get a photograph of the rare bird, which he sent to the Lancashire Telegraph.

He added: “It is very unusual for us to see something like that on our bird table.

“We looked on the computer afterwards and it mentioned different coloured starlings, but they were mainly from abroad.

“I have never seen a white starling before in my life. It is very strange.

“Since we first saw it, it has been back a few times and it seems to get on fine with the other starlings - they seem to be accepting it.”

Jen Walker, from RSPB Lancashire, said the sighting of an albino bird in the county was “interesting".

She added: “We do get birds that can have white and partly-albino colourings, or even full albino birds.

“Often it is to do with the colouring of feathers and if they are lacking feathers, sometimes they will go white.

“A few people do get them in the garden and it throws them if a bird that is normally a certain colour shows up white.”

The starling (sturnus vulgaris) is sometimes confused with the blackbird, but starlings have a sheen of purple or green on their feathers.

They are common garden birds and are found almost everywhere in Britain, with the exception of the Scottish Highlands The RSPB estimates there are around 800,000 pairs in Britain