Starlings

[Walks with dogs]

Last year where I work we were treated twice a day to a starling swarm , I got chatting to a Bill Oddie type who kindly sent me this footage of said swarm.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tXQRtp_z2iM&feature=related

It looks spectacular but the footage really doesn't do justice to how impressive it was in real life. Lots of controversy as the trees they end up roosting in are next to the rail station car park and all the buisness men kept coming back to find thier lovely cars covered in starling poo.

The council cut the trees down. Anyway, have a look , hope you find it as impressive as I did.

 

[Shewie]

I`ve always wanted to see this first hand but I`ve never got round to it. Is it a phenomenon found only in the Broads ?

 

[firecrest]

They roost on blackpools north pier. If you want to have a look at them, you can stand under the pier and they gather on the beach. the swarm flies so low they went straight through me! (I put my hood up!)

 

[saddle_tramp]

i worked at a farm where about a million starlings used to roost. it was an awesome site in late afternoon when they all come together and did thier shapes and swarming n stuff. but the smell where they roosted was rank . . it got so bad we had to use a crow scarer to move them on

 

[rancid badger]

Where I work, there are woods along a ridge directly across the road and starlings used to roost here.
There was little problem, till someone built a large housing estate on the old farm and adjacent fields.:bluThinki ( there's justice for you)
The new house owners were mortified by the aerial blitzkrieg, twice a day, every day for about three years or so!
The council tried hiring falconers to disrupt the flocks but it never seemed to have much effect. If you were outside when they came back to roost, you soon learned to get under cover fast!
I remember sitting in the factory conservatory (built onto the canteen), watching the birds swarming and as they passed over, you would think it was raining pea gravel
Then after quite a few years, they moved elsewhere, long after the falconer's had given up mind you
Very spectacular to watch though:umbrella:
cheers
Steve

 

[Mabinogion]

saw this last week. as i live on a hill, i see them quite often over the sea making these strange shapes and what a beautiful sight it is. there was a program on in the holidays about it and it's supposed to be a defensive thing, each starling trying to move to the middle from the end to be protected, and that the wave is created because they each have a tenth of a second reaction time after the one in front of them has moved.

 

[Bushwhacker]

The best place in this country is the Somerset levels.

 

[Armleywhite]

We were camping near Yarmouth last year, just outside and every night thousands of Blackbirds / rooks came to the high trees on the edge of the camp. Made a reet racket, but amazing sight to see!

 

[Barn Owl]

'a Bill Oddie type'

That's like labelling all bushcrafters as Bear Gryll types :twak:

 

[launditch1]

The best place in this country is the Somerset levels.

Seconded!Many happy hour spent at Westhay watching them.

 

[Opal]

The best place in this country is the Somerset levels.

Or Liverpool city centre.

 

[robin wood]

That was great video,

Thanks for sharing. I have seen it but not such a big flock.

So why do they do it?

I guess if I was a starling predator I would think it all looked pretty scary and clear off maybe?

I have never understood either why blackbirds and pheasants make such a fuss about advertising where they are going to sleep the night any ideas?

 

[Walks with dogs]

'a Bill Oddie type'

That's like labelling all bushcrafters as Bear Gryll types :twak:

Mate, he was the spitting image, right down to the beard. I was looking round for the delectable Kate Humble at one point.


The flock concerned was reckoned by the Oddie types to be the second biggest in the uk at the time. The vid really does not do it justice.

 

[brancho]

I used to watch them come in to land at work many years ago.