Somerset Starling Sensation

It’s always difficult to rate wildlife experiences against each other, but starling murmurations have to be one of my favorite. In early February I witnessed my largest ever with 750,000 starlings coming to roost in the reedbeds of Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve on the Somerset Levels. The wetlands here have all been created from old peat workings that are now carefully managed to support many rare reedbed and wetland species.

Over the years I have seen many starling roosts around the country at locations such as RSPB Otmoor in Oxfordshire, Brighton Pier and Slapton Ley in Devon. However the Somerset roost is probably the largest in the country and on occasions has thought to contain up to million birds!

Our quest to see this spectacle began with a day trip to Ham Wall RSPB Reserve.

It was a bright but bitterly cold day and there were good numbers of the usual wildfowl on the areas of open water such as tufted duck, pochard, teal, wigeon gadwall and mallard. From the first viewing screen we picked up lots of skulking snipe before a bittern made by a flypast giving a nice prolonged view.

(Pochard at Ham Wall) 

(reeds at Ham Wall)

(Great white egret at Ham Wall) 

Moving on we found one of the resident great white egrets hunting on the edge of the marsh and later saw it next to a little egret for size comparison. Later on we saw numerous marsh harriers quartering low over the reedbeds and also encountered a small flock of lesser redpoll feeding in alders. After a break for a pub lunch we visited the Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve side of the wetlands, just across the road from Ham Wall.

(Lesser redpoll Ham Wall)

Earlier in the day we had called the Starling Hotline (07866 554142) which gave details of the last location that the roost took place so we made our way along to the extensive reedbeds on the reserve. As we waited for the starlings to appear, numerous harsh harriers drifted in to view across the reeds and a sparrowhawk gave a close flypast. The numbers of other starling watchers grew as dusk approached. We were beginning to get nervous that we were in the wrong location as there was no sign for ages, but eventually a few starling flocks did start to appear in the golden light of the evening.

(Starlings at Shapwhick Heath)

Soon after some truly enormous flocks started to appear in the sky above us and they came in from all different directions and soon merged to form a giant super flock. This super flock must have contained several hundred thousand birds and filled most of the visible sky. It was hard to really scale the numbers by now, but at points the flock was so dense with birds it blacked out the sky. Everyone watching was speechless and the only noise to be heard was the swooshing of thousands of wings. The flocks kept coming and the mass kept growing. They then began to murmur and created extraordinary shapes that moved like liquid. It was breath-taking to witness.

(Starling murmartion at Shapwick Heath)

The flock then descended just as the light really started to fade. As we made our way back to the car, we could hear the chattering of the roost in the nearby reeds.