Starlings building for the winter murmurations, says Sheffield wildlife expert

At coastal resorts, especially in south-east England, starling numbers have been rising steadily with birds, breeding in northern England and across Europe, arriving for a winter break.
Starlings, by Prof Ian D RotherhamStarlings, by Prof Ian D Rotherham
Starlings, by Prof Ian D Rotherham

Towns like Brighton and Hastings for example, have flocks of starlings on roof-tops, in trees, on telegraph wires, and in shrubberies.

Active, intelligent, gregarious, and above all vocal, starlings are excellent mimics and will copy calls and noises from places and habitats they have recently visited.

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I have heard them ‘do’ green woodpecker yaffling, curlew song, and various other wading birds too.

Wildlife expert Prof Ian D RotherhamWildlife expert Prof Ian D Rotherham
Wildlife expert Prof Ian D Rotherham

When flocking together, the starlings are constantly communicating with complex mixes of bubbling, buzzing, chipping calls, and screeching at different pitches.

As their numbers grow, the flocks when they put to flight have an amazing ability to fly in tight formation and this is especially so if an avian predator such as a sparrowhawk is in the area.

The flock behaves almost as a single individual to mob and to confuse the would-be predator.

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However, as numbers at roosts and pre-roost sites grow, in some cases to enormous flocks

of hundreds of thousands of birds, this group behaviour, known as a ‘murmuration’, builds to

a peak.

These are spectacular displays and have developed to become major tourist attractions.

The big numbers often attract predators and the predators in turn trigger ever more dramatic aerial displays from the starlings.

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Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there were big concerns in many urban areas as roosting starlings were drawn to the cities’ winter heat-islands and caused fowling of buildings and other nuisances.

Then, probably linked to climate and habitat issues, the numbers dwindled and there were widespread concerns about the conservation status of the starling.

Nowadays it does seem that numbers have recovered for both British breeding birds and for the winter visitors too, and I think they have made a welcome return in many places.

They can be vulnerable to climatic trends, or particular incidents of extreme weather such as droughts in their late summer upland feeding habits on moors and bogs.

Prof Ian D Rotherham, of Sheffield Hallam University, is a researcher, writer and broadcaster on wildlife and environmental issues.