Tuesday 25 November 2014

Sunset and a few starlings

The Safari hadn't seen anything of note on either of our short visits to Patch 2 other than two each of Great Crested Grebes and Red Throated Divers.
The day was quite bright with a few isolated clouds and by mid afternoon it looked like a sunset was on the cards. We txtd CR and arranged another meet at the pier to watch the Starlings. On the dive in to work we were too far away to get a decent guesstimate but there was an impressive solid stream of them leaving the roost and flying off over the town centre.
A we drove down the prom the clouds thickened a nit and thoughts of a sunset were beginning to be dashed just like yesterday which promised so much through the afternoon then delivered zilch.
Today was a bit different
All pics straight of the phone with the only processing to straighten the horizon and resize to fit the screen. They are posted in the order we took them.
Not sure why they congregate on the beach like this - they look like an oil slick
We reckon about 10000 Starlings but in the absence of any predators, although the Peregrine has reappeared in the town centre, there was no throwing of shapes just a general mooching about without really coming into tightly packed groups.
Even if there weren't any Starlings it would have been well worth stopping just for the light show - simply stunning! The best things in life are free and open for all to enjoy.
Where to next? A repeat of the above wouldn't go amiss.
In the meantime let us know what's been set on fire in your outback.


2 comments:

cliff said...

Dave, I enjoyed the Starling & Sunset show, with the latter eclipsing the former.

I didn't realise you'd taken all your shots with your mobile - crikey - I think I'm gonna throw my dslr into the bin & either switch to using my mobile or just take up golf - you've got some stunning photos there.

Warren Baker said...

What brilliant scenery you have there davyman. Starlings here, number around 250-300, but they done roost around my area.