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Starlings form ‘breathtaking’ whale-shaped murmuration in Lancashire
The birds were seen forming the unique murmuration earlier this week
Thousands of starlings have been captured forming a ‘breathtaking’ whale-shaped murmuration in Lancashire this week.
Local birdwatcher David Cousins, sixty-one, captured photographs of the murmuration at the Leighton Moss nature reserve near the Lancashire village of Silverdale on Monday evening (March 14th), and shared them into the RSPB Birders Facebook group.
Cousins, who works in agriculture in Kendal, Cumbria, told the BBC that he has been following the flock’s movements across the full winter.
The birdwatcher said a peregrine falcon and marsh harriers had forced the group into a tight formation, noting: “Sunday night was a particularly large murmuration.
David Cousins
“The flock flew into a swirling mass of liquid motion which caused it to have a sea mammal or fish shape.”
Cousins managed to capture two photos of the birds’ murmuration, both of which he said he is ‘delighted’ with.
Wendy Bartlam, who also witnessed the unique spectacle, said it was ‘gobsmacking’.
Murmurations are formed when huge groups of starlings gather together and twist, turn, swoop and swirl across the sky.
Just before dusk, small groups of starlings from the same area come together above a communal roosting site and move in unison in what has become known as a ‘dance’, casting mesmerising shapes against the sunset.
David Cousins
According to the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester, and North Merseyside, scientists believe murmurations are a form of protection for starlings from predators, and a way of keeping warm in the winter.
Though these experts still aren’t completely sure how each starling knows which way to turn without bumping into the others.
The best time to witness a starling murmuration is during the autumn and winter months, with most migrant starlings arriving in the UK by late November – early December.