Murmuration

Wednesday 20th October 2021

J and I went to MM late afternoon for their late night opening to see the geese arrive. Yesterday I had seen their post to say that they also have a starling roost and you can see the murmuration. I've never seen one so I was excited at the possibility. 

We were there an hour before anything interesting started to happen. First we spotted the murmuration in the distance. I watched it through the long lens and it was so beautiful to see all the shapes they created and the way the pattern changed from dark to light as the birds turned.

Just before the starlings settled the first geese arrived and gave us a couple of fly pasts before landing in the field. There were many of them so we thought they must be the advanced party. We waited to see the thousands of them, as we had the other year but it didn't happen. Talking with the warden she said it had been a very mixed year with a lot fewer numbers. 

It was good to see them, even in their lower numbers. I might have been disappointed if that was all we had seen but it was worth going to see my first murmuration.   

I've included a couple of extras.