Starlings

I was inspired to write this after watching a video about a chance encounter with a starling murmuration by Sophie Windsor Clive here. Starlings are such a bird of autumn to me and even here in Lerwick I get my own flock sometimes, well if you agree with me that 30 or 40 at a time in a modest garden counts as a flock! I don’t often get to see a murmuration here, though I saw a mini murmuration over the town centre one Autumn evening in Lerwick just a couple of years ago and have looked hopefully every November since. No, the last time I saw a murmuration of any size was one time that I was passing through Inverurie, about 3 or 4 years ago. Maybe I need to make a special visit south to the Scottish/ English border one year where occurrences are more likely? Anyway, in the meantime, here are a couple of starlings from my garden and then a couple more, taking a bath at Boddam.