This evening I witnessed an amazing spectacle which went on for about half an hour or more. Up in the sky, as the sun was setting and dark descending, I spied large flocks of what looked like sea birds of some kind, some larger than others, all flying in formation, heading in a roughly westerly direction. What were these birds and where were they going? I must have seen over a thousand birds fly over in total so can't believe it's just evening movements of birds going somewhere to settle for the night, but I don't know much about birds so wondered if anyone can shed any light on this for me? Thanks.
Hi Julie and welcome to the forums
I think you have witnessed a large number of gulls of various species flying out to a roost somewhere. This is a regaulr behaviour at this time of year, they could be heading to an estuary or large inland water course after spending the day feeding on agricultural land or a landfill site.
Where abouts did you see this, it may be that some of the other forum users are local to you and may be aware of this activity?
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
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Hi Ian and thanks for your reply
I'm in Long Eaton, Derbyshire (or Nottinghamshire depending on your perspective!).[quote user="IanH"]
Hi there,
I agree, gulls is a good bet. They do gather in huge roosts, and they frequently fly in V-formation, goose-style. I often see flights of mostly large gulls overhead in the late afternoon and evening.
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The same thing happens where I live twice a day, every day. A huge flock of gulls flies overhead in one direction in the morning (as soon as it's light) and then flies back again in the afternoon/evening when it's just beginning to get dark. Given my location and the directions in which they travel, my guess is that they go from one of the local reservoirs to another, and then back again, to feed and to roost respectively.
As your other answers suggest, this is most probably what is happening in your instance, too.