This weekend... be stunned by starlings

At this time of year, as the sun begins to dip slowly on the horizon, small dark specks appear in the sky above fields, reedbeds and woods. Just a few at first, and then gradually, almost imperceptibly, the specks are joined by others coming from all directions, until a huge dark cloud fills the sky.

Far from being foreboding, it marks the beginning of one of nature’s most spectacular shows – starling flocks coming in to roost.

When conditions are right, thousands, and sometimes even millions, of birds congregate in twisting, swirling flocks above their night-time roost sites. These congregations, or murmurations to give them their proper name, perform such spectacular aerobatic displays that they could give the Red Arrows a run for their money! 

The birds swoop, soar and swirl in unison, creating ephemeral, ever-changing shapes in the sky - like smoke in a breeze. Then, all of a sudden, they start cascading down into their roost like a waterfall. Here they chatter to each other, before snuggling down for the night.

Collision avoidance

Now if you’re anything like me, you’ll be wondering how on earth the starlings manage not to crash into one another as they fly.

Many different explanations have been proposed over the years, including (and, no, I’m not joking!) telepathy! It was thought that the starlings could read each others’ minds, allowing them to twist and turn in perfect synchrony.  

We now know that starlings have lightning fast reaction speeds, which allow them to avoid collisions and mirror the flight path of birds around them.

So why do they do it?

Why starlings form these fantastic flocks in the first place is another question altogether.

Safety in numbers seems to be a major factor – predators such as sparrowhawks and peregrines find it difficult to pick out and target an individual bird amidst a hypnotising flock of thousands.

Not only that, the more birds there are, the less likely each one is to be the unlucky individual that gets picked off. 

Roosting alongside thousands of others also means that the starlings can share body heat to keep warm during the long cold nights, and exchange information about the best spot to pick up tomorrow’s breakfast.

Where to see starlings

Starling flocks can be seen across the UK, from October to early spring, and many of the most impressive can be found on some of our very own reserves – to find your nearest, check out our website.

Do you have any starling stories? Where's your favourite place to watch starlings roost? We'd love to hear about it, so please post a comment below.