How many starlings does it take to make a
murmuration? The
local tribe of these bustling birds swells in number in autumn. The
characters I saw squeezing in and out of the gaps in roof tiles
during the breeding season cluster like iron filings on the telephone
wires. There's a soft swish of wings as the flock takes flight, but the
numbers aren't big enough for the spectacular shape-shifting aerial
displays the birds are famous for, when thousands of them fret, soar and
pulse in synchronicity above their winter roosts. In the Cambridge
region murmurations are known at
RSPB Fen Drayton and the Cambridge Science Park.
Daddy long-legs lope accident-prone across my walls and ceilings, showing up cobwebs and reverberating inside lampshades. When these craneflies were larvae in 'leather jackets' tucked all over the lawns I got
woken up by a huge whoosh and squabble at dawn; the grubs are a
favourite food source for starlings. The birds descend on the feast in a
scratchy cacophany of chat, bristling and jostling. They're excitable
party birds that really animate my street with a repertoire of blips,
squeaks and whistles. They are good mimics and samplers, like techno
DJs.
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| Photo by Jo Sinclair |
Whether single or en masse these birds look amazing. Like dirty rainbows of petrol on tarmac (described by Nabokov as 'gasoline's parakeet')
starlings have an iridescent sheen that makes them look almost greasy,
especially when the displaying males raise their hackle of plumes as
they sing a song.
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Photo by Jo Sinclair
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