Over the last few days the numbers of Starlings coming in to roost in the reedbeds at Marazion Marsh have increased dramatically and we now reckon there may be 30,000 birds involved. This is still only a handful compared to the 2-3 million that used to be found firteen plus years ago but sadly this is a reflection of the demise of the European population over this period. Our own British Starlings largely declined before this period but numbers have been augmented each winter by their overseas cousins from places like Hungary and Poland - but we now know these populations are also declining now. So come and enjoy the evening pre-roost murmurations if you are passing this way. They often don't stay long at this time of year, moving on to other places in December or January for reasons we don't fully understand. These "other places" have been Loe Pool, Helston, St Michael's Mount, St Ives, Pendeen and Newquay in the past - to name just a few. There is a good video of the flocks gathering at Marazion on the local county CBWPS website under their 'Sightings' page for 7th November - worth having a look.
The arrival of these winter visitors coincide with the departure of our summer visitors of course but we still have the odd Swallow about - one here on 6th November. We've also had a single Bittern over the last few weeks but it has only been seen a couple of times so far. The beach has also held Wheatear and Black Redstart in the last few days and offshore a few Dark-bellied Brent Geese, a couple of Great Northern Divers and a Slavonian Grebe have been seen.
Good birding!
Site Manager, Cornwall reserves