STONE the crows - a white one?

Sheila Rigby, of Whalley Old Road, Little Harwood, spotted a rare white crow as she walked her dog.

Mrs Rigby said: "I told my friend Hazel and she didn't believe me, she said I was mistaken and that it must have been a pigeon.

"I could tell it was a crow because of the way it walked and it was with all the other black crows."

Lancashire Wildlife Trust recorded an annual average of one sighting of a white crow in 50,000.

Steve White of the trust said: "It is quite striking to see such an unusual- coloured crow and it can take people by surprise."

Hazel Hamer, of Lowther Place, Little Harwood, said she spotted the bird and realised her friend was telling the truth.

She added: "I couldn't believe it - there it was on the roof opposite mine."

She said it has been spotted a few times in the trees where it is believed to be nesting near Warrington Street, behind the burned-down Little Harwood Inn, off Whalley Old Road.

The RSPB said the white crow was an example of albinism - a term which describes birds which have some of their normal pigment missing.

The albino gene is inherited and produces a bird lacking colouring which can often have deficient eyesight and hearing and rarely survives for long.

Some albinos are shunned by other birds and struggle to find a mate; only 11 per cent of albinos are crows.

Over 160 species of British birds have been recorded showing partial or complete albinism and only a small proportion of wild birds are albino.