Starlings

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 In my view the starling is a greatly under rated bird. From a distance all you see is a blackish looking bird with a tendency to fly around in flocks.  We often see little squadrons of them feeding on grassland near the house.

Up close and in the right light these are fabulous birds.



There are starlings here all year round but numbers swell each winter with visitors from Western Europe.
At this time of the year starlings are famous for the pre roost gatherings called murmurations. I confess that we have never seen a murmuration from the house. There tend to be traditional sites that are used most years. The nearest site to us was at Tarn Sike reserve some 10 miles to the West of here (at which I am Honorary Reserve warden) but the flocks seem to have moved on and haven't been using this site recently. I can't resist showing some footage from Tarn Site in 2017.


Diary Notes
More snow overnight. Minus 7 degrees C recorded on my trail cams. Saw 3 roe deer from the house at dusk in the next field and had two sets of trail camera footage of them later in the evening. One fox heading North at 2230 hrs. Lots of rabbits as usual.






Comments

  1. David P18 February 2021 at 15:20

    We enjoyed a visit to the Tarn at that time, incredible sight, surprised they have not returned although have seen smaller gatherings flying between woodland around here. We also get gatherings of rooks here, doing aerobatics of a less energetic nature!

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