Snapshot Saturday: a murmuration of starlings

Last Monday, towards evening, the place to be was our home. We dashed from window to window, watching as dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of starlings descended on the trees round our house. They weighed down the branches, then in coordinated waves – responding to some urge we could not understand – they swept skywards, tearing across the garden, swooping, diving, before briefly settling again to repeat the performance again and again for a whole three-quarters of an hour, before finally disappearing to settle near the river for the night.

So near to our house, those mesmerising formations of groups of birds twisting and turning in harmony, as if in some graceful aerial dance weren’t so apparent as they are at a distance.  We were rewarded instead by seeing them at close quarters, rising, landing and  rising again from the trees near our house.

  A murmuration of starlings, especially for us.

Our car didn’t enjoy the display quite so much.

These photos are for this week’s WordPress photo challenge, Favourite Place. Click on any image to view full size

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

27 thoughts on “Snapshot Saturday: a murmuration of starlings”

    1. The size was normal for round here. The proximity to us wasn’t. You have an expert on hand to help you source where they are though, don’t you?

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    1. At this time of year, Kerry, all the time. But they change the location every single night and you have to get the bush telegraph, – or social media – out if you want to see one. This was a unique opportunity, having it so close.

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  4. Oh my goodness, what an experience! Every so often I start a bucket list (which I promptly lose) and ‘to see a murmuration’ is always up there. I recently joined a facebook group which records them in the hope that I’ll finally get my act together and be in the right place at the right time. Of course, being that close to your home… I suspect I’d start thinking of Du Maurier’s ‘The Birds’… Stunning!

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    1. ‘Wow’ is the only thing you can say, really. Don’t you worry about me. I didn’t clean the car. But them ‘im indoors never cleans the hiking boots, so it all works out in the end,

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  14. This should have a thousand upvotes and likes…. I only experienced once in my life (or remember it) that a massive cloud of sperlings rested in our village in Switzerland. It was a fraction of what is visible in your photos and it was extreme in so many senses. The sky was black and the formation changed all the time. The birds rested for a short while on every available tree, the noise was deafening and it was totally wonderful.

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