Blackpool Starlings

Well we are up in Cheshire at Tina's sisters and have made a trip to Blackpool to see the Starlings if they were still doing their thing. After parking up near the north pier we had a quick coffee and proceeded through the gale force winds down the pier. Initially we just saw small groups of starlings swirling over the pier fighting the winds just like us!

Then as we walked further we saw this black mass on the beach at the shore line. I couldn't say how many starlings are sitting there, shall we say a lot! Then we noticed streams of Starlings seeming to appear out of nowhere to join this group sitting on the beach.

We found a sheltered spot out of the wind and watched the mass grow. After a while groups of starlings took off and headed for the pier and disappeared underneath to roost for the night. This took about half an hour until the beach was empty. Sadly I think that due to the strong winds there was no aerial ballet, but the whole thing was pretty amazing.

I would recommend a visit for this, utterly brilliant.

Just a couple of shots:

 A new collective noun for starlings, 'A Curtain'