The best show in the North

Wow, Thursday's murmuration currently sits at the top of Popular, thank you one and all!!

Today was finally cold crisp and lovely - we had a glorious blue sky right up until about 15.00, the murmuration begins around 15.45....

I took Mrs IttH up onto the common to watch in wonder again this evening. Having made both local papers and being all across BookFace it was no surprise to find 40 or 50 people gathered.
For those who've not seen one, as the light fades flocks start to appear. The first we saw was probably 20birds - but they get bigger. Here in this high flat wild place you can see them coming from all around, lifting from the fields in all directions - the main flock literally grows before your eyes. At one point everybody gasped as probably 10,000 birds cleared Holme Wood and merged with the 20,000 or so already dancing - but moments later a similar number poured (i can think of no other word) over the hill from Winderwath direction. One keen twitcher estimated there are between 50-60,000 starlings here now.
They dance as the light fades, a seemingly frenetic pattern, a beautiful fluid thing - and then dramatically, thousands at a time they drop into the wood to roost.