Hello once more from the Exe Estuary! As I sit here in the office there are grey skies outside, and rain once more creating ripples in the puddles in the car park. We don’t expect any more floods over the next week or so, though you never know as water levels are still high. That’s a good thing for this time of year though, as covered in the previous blog!
We have been treated to an extraordinary sight this week, our very own starling murmuration over the Exminster Marshes. It was first seen on Monday, as many thousands of birds wheeled and spiralled over the office and then gradually moved down the canal to the reedbeds, where we suspect they might be roosting.
A starling murmuration is a truly amazing natural phenomenon, and a very special thing to see. Early evening is the most common time as the birds perform their incredible aerial dance and choose their nightly roost spot, which will be sheltered from harsh weather and predators. The murmuration itself helps the starlings to evade airborne hunters like peregrines, as the swirling mass of birds prevents the falcons from picking out any individual. There is safety in numbers. The largest roosts occur in winter, as thousands of migrant birds come to Britain for its milder climate from Europe. The number of starlings in a roost can swell to around 100,000 in some places.
Starling murmuration over Exminster and Powderham
However, these numbers are just a fraction of what they used to be. Our cities used to see huge flocks, but starlings have declined by as much as 70% in recent years and are now more commonly seen in rural areas. The decline is thought to be due to changes in agriculture and loss of habitat. Starlings are still quite common in our gardens though, so you can help give them a home by putting out food – they’re particularly fond of fruit!
You can get great views of our murmuration from the railway bridge on station road, which gives you a good vantage point for the whole reserve, and the best time of day seems to be about half past four in the afternoon at the moment. The birds do move around a lot though, so there are no guarantees - but that's what makes nature so exciting, right!?
You can also take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend (24-25 January), and let us know how many starlings you see. All you need to do is spend an hour counting the birds in your garden. It's that simple! Bird populations are a great indicator of the health of the countryside. That's why it's so important to take part in surveys like the Big Garden Birdwatch to keep an eye on the ups and downs of the wildlife where we live. Follow this link to take part:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/
Our regular high tide count this week saw some fantastic numbers, with 700 dunlin counted on the Exminster Marshes and over 2,000 wigeon, along with some brilliant mixed flocks of curlews, bar-tailed and black-tailed godwits and lapwing. This is a great time of year for seeing wintering wildfowl and waders, and because there’s so much water around the birds are much more widespread than usual. We’re even getting great views of water rail out in the fields, normally a very shy and retiring bird. If you come down to the marshes you might hear one - it has a very unusual call, almost like a squealing pig! It's a slightly odd-looking bird too, a wader with chestnut-brown and black upperparts, grey face and underparts, black-and-white barred flanks, and a long red bill.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/w/waterrail/