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Monday 14 January 2013

Bird Watching In UK---Spectacular Starling Murmuration


   I have been hoping to watch a Starling Murmuration, where hundreds of thousands of birds flock together swirling in the sky at dawn and dusk, in the UK for a long time. My dream came  true during my visit to England at Christmas. 





 The Starling is one of the commonest garden birds in UK. 






  Each year, in addition to the UK resident birds, millions of starlings from Europe spend the winter in the relatively warm Britain.

   These birds are very sociable and prefer to roost together because it not only offers safety in numbers but also enables them to keep warm together.  Each day, they tend to flock back to (and leave) the roosting place at the same time, which are magical moments for bird watchers. 




   In spite of the fact that every part of my starling watch plan had gone wrong (dark cloudy morning, bad timing, lost on the way...) , it was still overwhelming when I saw tens of thousands of birds departing from their roosting place in Shapwick Heath Nature Reserve, Somerset. 







Clearly the starling’s performance was under represented by the images shown here. I am determined to go back next year with a better plan and return with better photos~


18 comments:

Isidro Ortiz said...

Espectacular bando de Estorninos.Saludos

Bas. said...

wat moet dat mooi zijn om mee te maken.

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

I have had the pleasure of seeing murmurs here in California where the Starling is an introduced species to the States much to the annoyance of the birds and birders here. There are some good YouTube videos of murmurs in action.

TexWisGirl said...

congratulations on getting to see them!!!

Joke (Joke's Camera) said...

I know exactly what you mean. I live near a nature reserve and I saw this spectacle last summer when thousands of starlings did all together a splendid air show before they all, as on a signal, landed at the same time for the night. It sounded like an enormous wind gust. That was very impressive and it is impossible to explain it to people who have never experienced this. I have made pictures with more light then you had, but it is very difficult to express in photos the feeling of this spectacle. Despite your troubles with the amount of light is this a great blog. I hope you enjoyed your trip to England. Greetings, Joke

Monique et Daniel said...

Très belle série!
ce n'est pas facile de les approcher, ils sont très vifs et intelligents; j'ai eu l'occasion d'en observer aussi:
http://lesoiseauxdu27.blogspot.fr/2012/12/letourneau-sansonnet-sturnus-vulgaris.html

Maria said...

I lovve seeing the variety of flocks you have here!

Giga said...

Cieszę się, że zobaczyłeś to , co bardzo chciałeś. Też bym taki widok chciała zobaczyć. Szpaki też u nas są, ale czegoś takiego nie widziałam. Pozdrawiam.
I'm glad I saw it, which was much wanted. I would want to see such a sight. Starlings are also with us, but I have not seen anything like it. Yours.

Montanagirl said...

It was fun for you to get to see them. I've only seen this on TV. Lucky you!

Kirsti said...

Todella iso parvi lintuja. Kivaa että näit tämän linnun luonnossa:)
Terveisiä.

Irma said...

What a wonderful spectacle with all the starlings.
I think the starling a very beautiful bird.
You've captured them well.
Greetings Irma

Bob Bushell said...

Ah, there are loads of them, I love the Starlings.

Patrycja (photoopassion) said...

Interesting post. I really like it.
Super blog. Yours. ^ ^

Have a nice day. ;)
+ Welcome to my blog.
If you want to put it in your followers.

Marco Luijken said...

Hello my friend!!
Wonderful shots!! Very nice that you have saw so much of these starlings during your trip in England.
In springtime we see here in Holland so much starlings too. Then they came and stay in some trees for a week and then they go away. You don't go there for a walk at that moment, because they pooping on your head,..hihi...!!

Many greetings,
Marco

Bonnie K said...

If you get a chance hop over and see my gray crowned rosey finches. I love your photo of the sky filled with birds.

Helma said...

Hello Friend of HK,


what an enormous amount of birds and say what an impressive sight that will have been so in the air.
Also reflects your photo 10 I find beautiful.

Greetings, Helma

Roger said...

Hello Friend Oh HK.
After visiting England, these Starlings crossing the channel to France and arrive in waves and swirling impressive. The metallic sheen of the plumage of the bird are beautiful. Beautiful photos, bravo!

Rohrerbot said...

Just how many starlings??!!!!!!! That's incredible!