Leach's Petrel
Oceanodroma leucorhoa
Oceanodroma leucorhoa
Comparable to the size of a starling, the leach's petrel is a predominately black bird with a white rump, with a black down line it. Tails are black and are a forked shape.
Most of the time, this bird spends its time out at sea only coming into land at night to breed. Breeding takes place mainly on remote islands off the coast of the UK. Leach's petrels will feed out onto the continental shelf.
These birds are specially protected by the law and listed as a Schedule 1 species under The Wildlife and Countryside Act. It is critical that the nests of these birds are protected by predators like rats and cats.
The majority of the birds from the UK will migrate to the tropics in the winter, but some will stay behind in the northern Atlantic.
Their diets mainly consist of crustaceans, small fish and molluscs.
