Starlings’ mini mumurations and returning swifts signal that summer is again upon us
The past week has seen much frantic action and frenzied sound to go with it. Murmurations of starlings are usually a winter phenomenon but in recent days here we have been watching something of a “minimurmuration”.
Our local gathering has been on a small scale compared to the vast gatherings to be seen in some parts of the country, among them, the vicinity of Gretna. During these unbelievable displays, the sky becomes one massive artist’s canvas of marvellous mobile design. Here, we are talking merely in terms of dozens, as opposed to the tens of thousands seen in those great murmurations!
As dusk begins to creep over the landscape, this intrepid little flotilla of starlings sets off on its nightly journey around the house and surrounding fields. As ever, the flock as it zooms by is tight-knit and amazingly disciplined, always maintaining close formation. Direction change, however, is completed in a trice and without a hint of a break in the speed at which these exercises are conducted – headlong – with not so much as a momentary pause.
Close observation reveals that this dashing pell-mell, to and fro, is clearly not led by a single bird nor indeed – so far as I can tell – even by a number of them. Instead, the flock has different birds spearheading it as it suddenly turns and hurtles off in another direction.
I read recently that some clever boffins have, after considerable analysis, come up with the idea that such a flock is comprised of birds that are natural leaders and thus lead, whilst the bulk are natural followers and thus they follow! This seems a plausible explanation for a spectacle which, when conducted by those tens of thousands of birds, always convinces me there must somehow be a master choreographer at work.
My little murmuration may also take the form of a training exercise. During the past few weeks, the air here has been thick with the reeling and whistling of starlings calling to their youngsters. The creche for local fledglings appeared to have been located in the extensive tangle of a large hawthorn, with over-spill spreading to adjacent birches and damson trees. Although starlings can produce remarkable passages of sweet music, generally it is “cribbed” from other songsters, and such bursts usually come to a comical end, as if the singer has suddenly forgotten how it goes and descends into screeches, warbles and whistles.
However, it is clear that a bevy of young starlings has fledged and decided to roost in the aforesaid hawthorns, birches and damsons. The parents find rich pickings of insects in my paddock, which they are collecting and stuffing into receptive beaks! Hence the constant reeling – not unlike the sound of countless fishing lines being reeled in!
I have therefore conjectured that some of the newly fledged youngsters have been taken aboard by the adult birds and given their first experiences of riding the helter skelter! One such youngster recently