A murmuration of Starlings close to home

Here's the sounds of thousands of starlings at roost!

http://soundcloud.com/eddrewitt/the-sounds-of-thousands-of

And here's my own running commentary of the same experience close to my home:

http://soundcloud.com/eddrewitt/me-reporting-on-more-starling

There's been a lot of publicity recently on the incredible starling experiences across the UK where millions of these gregarious birds form swirling shapes movements, moving through the sky as a single entity like a squidgy, amoeba changing form and size every second! It leaves those watching it for real or viewers online or watching tv with mouths wide-open, in awe at the sheer complexity, beauty and form. 

Here in Bristol, one of the most well known starling experiences is about an hour away down on the Somerset Levels. Millions on starlings roost in the reedbeds, feeding by day on the farmland across Somerset. Even more mind-boggling is that huge numbers of these birds originate from Russia and eastern Europe which is currently very much colder and frozen compared to the west of England (where it's just wet and mild!).

In the past few weeks thousands of starlings have been performing this incredible display close the second Severn Crossing on the Severn Estuary near Bristol. It's only ten minutes drive from my home and an awesome opportunity to watch such a spectacle so close by. They were swirling round above my head and so close I could even smell their compost-like scent! And once the mass drop down in the bushes, they break their silence and burst out into a cacophony of squeals, whistles and gurgles as they squabble over their roosting space!at

I captured (above) this murmuration of starlings on the Somerset Levels in February 2010.

Somerset Levels' delights

Popped down to the Levels today for a Starling Bonanza with Stephen Moss, family and friends. Was a brilliant afternoon on Shapwick - lovely February sunshine despite the chilly temperatures. Amongst the waterfowl I got to see a striking male goldeneye, a whooper swan (usually upending) and the great white egret. Over on Ham Wall the starlings showed off incredibly well, literally coming down into the reeds in front of us. This was one of the best displays I've seen in many years. The presence of a few sparrowhawks, a marsh harrier and a peregrine (more distant) helped to produce some great twirls and sudden twists in the floating swarm. As most settled, some of the trees looked like burnt logs. There were at least two albino starlings - I spotted one! Just as it couldn't get any better Stephen shouted glossy ibises - flying over the reserve were three of these heron like birds with down-curved beaks. Awesome! The starlings meanwhile were still zooming around with more flocks coming in and others behind. Slowly, the light faded, the birds settled and it was time to head back to Mark for some dinner and socialising.

Phew!! A busy few weeks and culminating in me being ill in bed for past two days! Still feeling much better now. Last week I was tour leading for Naturetrek. With Charles Martin as my co-leader, we spent two wonderful days with 16 clients exploring the Somerset Levels. Despite overcast and rainy weather we saw all the likely suspects (Lapwings, Wigeon, Shovelers...) in good numbers and had a few scarcer birds including Whooper and Bewick's Swans, Long-tailed Duck and a Great White Egret. The Starlings performed well too - swirling in their masses some distance away from Shapwick where we were expecting them; however they suddenly changed direction and flew straight overhead towards Ham Wall. An awesome experience - just the pattering sounds of their wings could be heard as they passed over.

On Saturday I spent the day doing some bird ID tutoring - we visited Marshfield in the morning catching up with Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings; in the afternoon Slimbridge WWT gave good views of Bewick's Swans and many other waterfowl and wading birds!

Sunday was then a fun day out with the University of Bristol SCUBA diving club - we ventured down to the south coast. The first two sites were too murky so we finished off in the brackish water between Weymouth and Portland - I managed to tick off a few skills and see some anemones, crabs and mud!! The nearby pub was a warming reward after before heading back to Bristol.

Today was the launch of the Bristol House Sparrow Project - check out http://www.wildsparrows.org.uk/ where you can report any House Sparrows you see and help us help Bristol's House Sparrows! We launched the project with St Mary Redcliffe Primary School in Victoria Park, south Bristol.

Despite the snow, I had a lovely day out in Somerset checking out places to go for two tours myself and Charles Martin are doing for Naturetrek next month on the Someset Levels. All the main roads were clear of snow and we managed to get to Wells in good time to look around the hotel where we and clients will be staying. We then ventured into the countryside to log distances between the hotel and places we want to visit, plus pubs for soup lunch!! Everywhere was still very white and near Wells you could see where the snow had drifted into the hedgerows. We even passed a snow plough - haven't seen one of those for many years!! Warm air from the east meant temperatures stayed around 3 degrees Celsius all day - you could see grass tufts appearing in fields throughout the day as the snow began the melt and thin. We didn't go down to any of the nature reserves and from the main roads there was little wildlife to see, just a few kestrels, buzzards, fresh mole hills and a heron standing by a frozen dyke. There were quite number of blackbirds and redwings feeding by the roadside verges which were free of snow however - and bizarrely a song thrush hanging dead from a hawthorn bush. Sadly some of the thrushes were looking weak and we saw at least 4 which had been hit by cars. In Langport centre a tame redwing was pecking away at the snow (not sure what it was eating) - a blackbird was doing the same a little later. After getting our tasks done we headed back to Bristol - near Temple Meads Station over 60 fieldfares were busily jostling in the berry laden trees! Got back around 4pm after a full day out and just in time to see if there were any birds in the garden. Couldn't see any but the apples I had put out had been pretty much eaten! All ready for another week!