Murmuration

Poor pictures (taken on my ‘phone) but they give you an impression of the murmuration of Starlings near to my home, at Summer Leys nature reserve yesterday evening.

They didn’t put on a spectacular show, not much wheeling around, but there were quite a few of them – 6000? And against the setting sun they were an impressive sight just flying  around, almost in silence except when they all grouped together and changed direction when a Sparrowhawk came close and then we heard the sound of their wings.

When they poured into the reedbed where they were roosting it looked like the grains of sand passing through an old egg-timer, a stream of individuals appearing from afar as though they were a solid, but liquid, mass.

Here is a very good website with details of traditional locations for starling murmurations and, importantly, showing those occupied at the moment. If you know of an occupied active murmuration then let these guys know.

And good luck finding a murmuration for yourself.

 

[registration_form]