Murmurations are when starlings miraculously fly together in a flock tens of thousands strong. As they swirl, group and regroup they create a liquid geometry of patterns in the sky.
The time to see this is December
or January, just before sunset, since it is pre-roosting behaviour.
Nick and Jackie reported good
views of a murmuration from just outside their village Spar. I asked if we could please visit, and as the
day dimmed we arrived to join several dozen of their neighbours.
Over twenty thousand starlings
created their stunning formations against the backdrop of a flaming
sunset. People oohed as if they were
watching fireworks.
But then as the sun sank, the
starlings began to funnel down into a small stand of hedgerow.
Between us and the hedgerow was a
tiny cottage.
‘Are all those thousands of birds
landing in that person’s back garden?’
‘How can there possibly be space
for them?’
‘I expect they make quite a mess too.’
As we were conjecturing, a
delivery van drew up outside the little house.
The driver was hesitant – the number of spectators made it look as there
had been an incident.
Finally he got out and
knocked. The luckless homeowner
appeared, only to be faced by around fifty of her neighbours brandishing
binoculars and phone cams, like being papped.
She accepted a large box from the
courier and disappeared swiftly back inside.
‘What do you think was in the box?’
Speculation raged.
The most positive suggestion was
‘starling food’ (Jackie), the most negative, ‘a peregrine falcon’ (me).
Either way, I did feel a little
sorry for the woman. Much as I love
starlings, I don’t think I would ever wish to be ‘murmurated’.
No comments:
Post a Comment