Starling murmuration over the reserve
Sturnus vulgaris
European Starling · Dungeness · 20 December 2025
The whole starling flock pulled back to show the shape it is drawing against the evening sky at Dungeness, reeds and open water below. Dungeness is one of the better-known murmuration sites in the country, the starlings gathering over the reedbeds at dusk in winter before dropping in to roost for the night.
The display is thought to be partly defence - a Peregrine or a harrier working the roost cannot pick one bird out of a moving cloud - and partly a way of gathering the whole population of the marsh into one warm roost.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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