Starling roost

Yesterday I dropped in at a local wildbird food shop at a little village called Theberton. The shop is called Wild About Birds and is an excellent place for all wildbird feed and pet feed. They also offer good sound advice on anything bird related and have a board up outside with all the latest local sightings of intrest. Colin the shop manager told me of the Starling roost that was to be seen at Minsmere. He said it was best viewed from the heath at Dunwich.

So that is where I headed this evening. And what a sight! There were already several thousand gathered with more coming in all the time. I have seen huge Starling roosts in the past,but many,many years ago. This roost must have easily topped fifty thousand birds!

For a good half hour or more they swirled,pulsed and surged putting on an amazing display.Three times Sparrowhawks came from beneath them and tried to snatch one. The first one to try did actually succeed and took one off into the reeds. This just made the flock pulse and surge even more.

All the while I was taking photos but of course all the while the light was fading.Though I have decided to include a couple of the pictures just for intrest. My favourite one is probably the flock moving across the front of Sizewell Power Station like a tornado. A truly amazing sight and one that anybody who is interested in the natural world should try to see if they get the opportunity.