Today I completed a lifetime ambition to see starlings nesting. The photos do not do the experience any justice at all, and it is just bamboozling how they do not manage to collide. Gretna Green has one of the UK's largest nesting grounds for starlings, and may have been featured on the BBC's Naturewatch. I going to go back with my video camera, as it really has to be seen in motion. Just incredible really and I thought I would share.
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonralli/5189620805/ ]November 19th[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/simonralli/ ]simon ralli[/url], on Flickr
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Full set here:
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I was at the services at Gretna a few winters back and the sky was full with them - horizon to horizon. Plan to leave a trail of breadcrumbs from gretna to ayrshire so that I can have them all to myself.
Heh. One of the really amazing things was seeing them finally nest. I may try and load the video up from my camera later. How it is all co-ordinated I have no idea.
It is indeed an amazing sight.
we used to get them here where i live, amazing sight, but not good for the car paintwork........their dodo is acidic.
Nice pics Simon, I've been down to the roosts on the Somerset Levels the last couple of years, and it is indeed an awe-inspiring sight, the sound of thousand of wings wirring overhead is fantastic. Trouble is there are thousands of acres of reedbed down there and predicting where the little buggers are going to roost is very difficult. Also, you really need a raptor or two to stir them up into a full display, like a Peregrine or Sparrowhawk, otherwise they'll just circle a couple of times then settle. Hoping this winter I might get some really good photos. Autumnwatch was at the roost at Aberystwyth Pier, and they showed some research that gave clues as to how the starlings manoeuvre in flocks.
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They're roosting not nesting Simon 😉 Superb photos though, truly an amazing sight. Well done.
Yup, they are amazing...........I'm a bit of a starlinist myself.
Although their deep south southern cousins are amazing too :
Roosting - doh!
Here's my little video from my Canon IXUS. Hoping to make a much better video tomorrow!
That's nuts - I'd love to see that! There was a cooking-lager advert (Carlsberg?) a while ago with a great bit of footage of a sky black and alive with roosting starlings.
Wow! That is a superb piece of film. Honestly, that is just the most fantastic display; consider yourself blessed to have witnessed that. There are people travel huge distances to the Levels and see hardly anything at all. It's around fifty miles for me to get there, and I've seen nothing on that scale. Astonishing.
Yeah - I think the benefit of Gretna Green is that there is a tiny roosting ground. I met a very nice young couple who had taken the day off work and come up from Durham I think. Another much older couple had come up from Yorkshire. And there were a few more local people and a few others I did not speak to. But yeah, I have been waiting for some good weather before going, and I was not disappointed. It is just amazing how many birds there are that fly together. Must be thousands maybe?
its all just cover for cottaging, we're on to you lot you know that right?
There's always one wants to drag it down to gutter level.
thats way more awesome than i was expecting 🙂
are they good eating?
*loads up the Purdys*
are they good eating?
*loads up the Purdys*
I think you'll find the eating not worth the effort, there's not much to a starling. Unless you're French, in which case you'll eat it just because it flies and you can shoot it.
I went out again today to try and make a video. Light wasn't great as it was raining but I think I have caught some good shots around 1min 30 secs.
Quite amazing.
Fantastic! Thanks.
Well I have just ordered myself a Canon s95 so am hoping to return in a few day's time to see if I can get some much better quality photos. Does anyone know when the starlings stop these displays?
I think I have caught some good shots around 1min 30 secs.
Yep, it looks like they are attempting to re-enact a scene from The Mummy.
All that fancy flying must take some serious coordination. It must be a real bugger when someone cocks it up..........and you [i]know[/i] there's always one who does.
[i]"Does anyone know when the starlings stop these displays? "[/i]
Bedtime.