Starlings!

The sky was clear, the light fast fading. A short stroll to the St Stephen's roundabout was in order. During my previous Starling watch (11th January) I'd arrived unarmed, the camera mistakenly left at home.


The accumulating mass.

This time (18th January) I'd hoped to make amends. So batteries fully charged, memory card uncluttered by past events, I limped along to await the gathering as four o'clock neared. Previous experience had taught me not to be overly disheartened by the somewhat meagre vanguard- twenty-or-so early birds- so, propped against a suitable wall, I set about waiting.


Tailing out far more impressively than did the recent Comet Lovejoy.

As hoped for, reinforcements duly arrived. Parties of up to two hundred or so, mostly approaching from a south-westerly direction, incrementally bolstered the living orb. The flock appeared to accelerate, in proportion to its increasing mass, yet all-the-while smaller numbers were peeling off at the extremities. I've wondered before whether a 'competing' flock of Feral Pigeons, or perhaps the rather-more-transient passing numbers of mostly Lesser Black-backed Gulls, might be acting as a partial deterrent or a distraction to some of the earlier arrivals. It certainly seems to be the case that the flock's numbers increase more rapidly once the other species have dispersed.



The Starling numbers have climbed steadily since before Christmas and, struggling to approximate, I might hazard a guess at 6,000 to 8,000 birds, but I'm happy to amend this accordingly. Yet still my pictures never quite seem capable of conveying an accurate impression of size.


Failing quite spectacularly, to capture an impression of the fanning flock.

As the blue heavens deepened in hue a far more disciplined knot roller-coasted across the sky, periodically fanning out to dapple the wider expanses, venturing further afield and later into the gloom than on my previous visits. Smaller numbers of dispersing shoppers had this time amassed at railings around the underpass, several mobile phones hoping to capture the essence of this aerial phenomenon. Perhaps the EDP or Look East will also soon be spreading the news...

Jim Froud has had a good bash at recording the flock, as of some time around the 17th January.

So made up was I that a more determined search for Mercury seemed in order. Alas, 'twas a bridge too far, Venus's diminutive cousin proving entirely less cooperative.