Having tried, useuccessfully, to be in the right place at the right time to observe starlings flcoking together prior to roosting, I finally managed it yesterday. Standing outside the public hide looking west just as the sun was setting, with flocks of hundreds of starlings flying overheard I observed a slightly distant view of them gathering together over the reed beds on the edge of the reserve before diving down out of sight to settle for the night.
Not only spectacular to view but a sense of achievement as well!
Very envious. We stayed at the campsite at Grisedale near the lakes early October which meant we could walk down to the reserve in about 10 minutes. The farmers wife told me that there had been huge numbers of starlings last winter, so we were hopeful of seeing them, but it was too early in the year. We live in Gloucestershire, so I'm waiting for them to appear at Ham Wall in Somerset then we will go and spend a few days there and try and get a photo like yours
We visited Leighton Moss on Sat 29/01 (our first visit) and ended our day with a nice warming bowl of soup at 4 and then back out on one of the hides for a great view of the starlings before we headed on home again