Mass Murmuration

Yesterday I had an amazing evening! For my first time I visited a nature reserve near Tewksbury to see a starling murmuration. A murmuration is when large numbers of birds, such as starlings, gather in flocks forming amazing patterns as they group, split and regroup before settling down to roost for the night. The reason for this behaviour is probably because birds of prey find it harder to catch a small bird if it is grouped in with the rest of the flock. Birds of prey also find it harder if the flock is constantly shifting as they cannot pick out an individual so readily.

I had seen videos of murmurations but never witnessed one live so I was very excited. We arrived just as the light was fading, initially there was no sign of any starlings. We walked through a small woodland to a large lake and suddenly we noticed hundreds of starlings were circling over the lake. As we looked up several smaller groups of starlings swooped close over our heads making a real whooshing sound.

All the groups were merging together and breaking up again and again forming incredible shapes like great grey clouds. Altogether there were thousands of starlings flying in a mass over the lake.

As dusk fell the birds suddenly dropped down into the reeds as if they were being poured from a jug. We quickly walked around the lake to the roosting site and were amazed by the volume of noise created by the birds, they didn't yet appear ready to settle down for the night! It was truly an amazing experience.