Have you joined people out on Eynsham’s street this January watching the huge flocks of starlings swoop, dive and change shape in the evening sky?
A big flock of starlings flying like this is known as a murmuration, and is one of nature’s wonders.
Flocks like this can sometimes reach 100,000 birds—it is thought that they fly like this for safety, for finding roosting places together or for exchanging information (like good feeding places).
The flock that keeps appearing over Eynsham may look big, but nationally starling number have been dropping incredibly fast. The RSPB say numbers have fallen by more than 80 per cent in recent years. Sadly, starlings are now on the UK ‘critical list’ because they have declined so much.
For more information, go to rspb.org.uk and remember, Eynsham has many people, young and old, active in conservation and rewilding— you can help!
