Saturday 22 December 2018

Saturday 22.12.2018

A soft winter`s afternoon, crisp enough underfoot but still and quiet, the fast disappearing sun casting long shadows beneath a sky of pastel blues and pinks turning to gold as we returned.


And on the way down the road, a murmuration of starlings swirling over the fields. It really is an amazing sight....and halfway through the display a smaller band - a mumurette? - joined them in a manoeuvre that made the Red Arrows look like clumsy amateurs.

The RSPB explain it thus:
"We think that starlings do it for many reasons. Grouping together offers safety in numbers – predators such as peregrine falcons find it hard to target one bird in the middle of a hypnotising flock of thousands. They also gather to keep warm at night and to exchange information, such as good feeding areas."

Of course they could have been simply having fun. :)

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