A murmuration of starlings
Introduction
The photograph on this page of A murmuration of starlings by Mick Garratt as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
A murmuration of starlings
Image: © Mick Garratt Taken: 20 Oct 2018
One of nature’s spectacles and another tick off my bucket list. And so close to home, Coatham Marshes at Redcar, in the shadow of the skeleton of the old blast furnace. We waited and waited, was just about to move on to the South Gare to catch the sunset when things happened. A few flocks at first which grew and grew, acrobatics becoming more frenzied. Tea leaves in the sky. In ten minutes it was over, a patch of reeds selected for the night’s roost. Surprisingly starlings have an RSPB red conservation priority, the highest criteria. The species is threatened with a severe decline in the UK breeding population over the last 25 years. From my blog http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=20352
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
54.613221
Longitude
-1.089517