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Starling numbers - up?? (1 Viewer)

david2004

Well-known member
I hadn't seen more than one or two Starlings for a good while, until this morning. We normally feed the birds out the front but have also got one feeder out the back. I put up a giant fat ball, and within a week the number of Starlings at the front haven't changed, but out the back have escalated! I counted no less than 56, possibly many more, in our tiny garden! It's amazing! Also were a couple of tits and a solitary House sparrow.
 
The winter flocks are gathering, David, that's for sure - often swelled by continental birds. We've had several dozens flying around for a few weeks, feeding off our elderberries, but today their numbers had at least doubled. It was quite funny watching them balancing on a spider's web of telegraph wires above a neighbour's driveway. His car showed plenty of evidence of their presence and their diet!
 
scampo said:
The winter flocks are gathering, David, that's for sure - often swelled by continental birds. We've had several dozens flying around for a few weeks, feeding off our elderberries, but today their numbers had at least doubled. It was quite funny watching them balancing on a spider's web of telegraph wires above a neighbour's driveway. His car showed plenty of evidence of their presence and their diet!
Would that be a blackberry diet,Steve:-O
 
christineredgate said:
Would that be a blackberry diet,Steve:-O
I like the bouncing purple smiley - a bit like one of our elderberries... that's what the starlings eat before flying off to perch over the neighbouyr's car; and that's the evidence they leave for him, too.

It's fascinating to watch them descend onto the elderberry tree en masse and, as soon as anyone appears they all scurry off in a whirl of feathers. I reckon we might get a hundred or more birds at a time feverishly devouring the berries.
 
tp20uk said:
I hadn't seen more than one or two Starlings for a good while, until this morning. We normally feed the birds out the front but have also got one feeder out the back. I put up a giant fat ball, and within a week the number of Starlings at the front haven't changed, but out the back have escalated! I counted no less than 56, possibly many more, in our tiny garden! It's amazing! Also were a couple of tits and a solitary House sparrow.

Hi David,

There is always an end of breeding season effect and we often get calls telling us "there are loads of sparrows/starlings in my garden". The sad truth is that the majority are juveniles that will not make it past the next few weeks of life. As has been pointed out by others, starlings form huge winter feeding flocks around this time because they are no longer tied to breeding sites. In fact, we should consider starlings as partial migrants because there is a lot of movement around the country (not necessarily out of Britain though). We also get some continental migrants coming in around this time onwards.

Sparrows (for interest) are slightly different because they are about as sedentary as you can get with birds. Ringing has shown that most birds never venture more than 1-2 miles from the place where they were fledged - unlike tree sparrows BTW where there is some dispersal of juveniles. Unfortunately, this means that we have real problems with sparrows and given the 'wrong' conditions, the UK population could fall lower still. The consequence of the above behaviour is that local populations are becoming isolated with the inevitability of interbreeding and the attendent risk of disease or weather devastating the colonies. On a happier note, most of our smaller birds have had three good years for breeding with a series of milder winters that is at least helping to stabilise things or slow the decline. If only...!
 
Yes, Starling numbers are up. All over the place. Who , again, thought it was a good idea to bring these buggers over here?
 
Kevin Mac said:
Yes, Starling numbers are up. All over the place. Who , again, thought it was a good idea to bring these buggers over here?

Et tu ruddy ducks and Canada geese - fancy an exchange? :h?:

BTW, I understand that house sparrows are in decline in North America.
 
Starling numbers up

I only started feeding birds in the garden last spring, and do extremely well for sparrows (at least 40) and approx same number of starlings. I have also attracted a sparrow hawk who, according to my neighbour, has taken a couple of starlings.
Chris Stillman
Peasedown ST. John
BATH
 
The largest flock of starlings I saw was in Luxembourg this weekend. They almost seemed to blanket the sky. I suppose it was the same here years ago.
 
Not only were they taken to Canada, there were about 20 in my garden today just to the west of Sydney, Australia.

Of interest to the English, a walk through the park today included views of starlings, house sparrows, goldfinch, blackbird, and coot. (As well as the other imports such as common mynahs, red whiskered bulbul and spotted turtle-dove).

Does not leave a lot of room for the OZ birds...

Mike.
 
I've finally, after years of thought, come up with the perfect solution for Starlings here in Canada.
First we teach earwigs to eat Purple Loosestrife. Next we teach Starlings to eat earwigs. Then we ...... Well, my plan isn't quite finished yet. Might have to involve Zebra Mussels somehow.
My solution won't get rid of Starlings but might makes us like them, at least.
;)
 
snowyowl said:
I've finally, after years of thought, come up with the perfect solution for Starlings here in Canada.
First we teach earwigs to eat Purple Loosestrife. Next we teach Starlings to eat earwigs. Then we ...... Well, my plan isn't quite finished yet. Might have to involve Zebra Mussels somehow.
My solution won't get rid of Starlings but might makes us like them, at least.
;)

Yeah, we just need to encourage Canada geese to carry toilet paper around with them. ;) :hippy:
 
Starlings

helenol said:
The largest flock of starlings I saw was in Luxembourg this weekend. They almost seemed to blanket the sky. I suppose it was the same here years ago.

Used to be like that in Newcastle until modern, bird unfriendly buildings put a stop to that. Used to be fantasic watching the flocks of Starlings flying in ever changing cloud formations over the city. Just dosen't seem to happen now.

Brian
 
Starling Numbers

I think we have to be very careful generalising here. In the UK Starling numbers have declined dramatically. The British Trust for Ornithology, who do surveys and measure ringing recoveries say "Breeding Starling abundance has fallen rapidly, particularly since the early 1980s, and especially in woodland (Robinson et al. 2002). The declines have been greatest in the south and west of Britain." According to the worst measure (the Common Bird Count and Breeding Bird Census), starling numbers have gone downm by 77% over the last 33 years. Because of the > 50% decline the species' UK conservation listing has recently been upgraded from Amber to Red, the worst level of conservation concern. Starlings in towns may well be stable or increasing beacuse of garden feeding, but on the agricultural land, there is no doubt in my mind that the dramatic decline is continuing.

helenol said:
The largest flock of starlings I saw was in Luxembourg this weekend. They almost seemed to blanket the sky. I suppose it was the same here years ago.
 
prowberr said:
...the worst level of conservation concern. Starlings in towns may well be stable or increasing beacuse of garden feeding, but on the agricultural land, there is no doubt in my mind that the dramatic decline is continuing.
It seems to me that starlings are quite migratory so it must be difficult to know their numbers at this time of year. Certainly, the numbers in Loughborough seem to be on the rise over the past few years, after a serious low around five to ten years ago. I can recall around 20 years ago talk of a major cull in Leicester as the main roost in Leicester's Abbey Park was a million birds strong; nowhere near that number exists there these days.

I suspect that one issue with starling numbers is the reduction in its food source of leather jackets - the number of crane flies we see is far feweer than in former times.
 
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Good numbers this end steve, they have had 2 good breeding years, and they really are the comics of the bird world a joy to watch.
bert.
 
I suspect that one issue with starling numbers is the reduction in its food source of leather jackets - the number of crane flies we see is far feweer than in former times.[/QUOTE]

This seems very true to me. On a visit to rural West Ireland where there were no intensively farmed fields they seemed to be all over the place; in fact the evening roost was spectacular as the number of Starlings was enormous. I observed them eating plenty of leather jackets too. So I think intensive farming has been a disaster for Starlings.

Tom
 
treecreeper said:
This seems very true to me. On a visit to rural West Ireland where there were no intensively farmed fields they seemed to be all over the place; in fact the evening roost was spectacular as the number of Starlings was enormous. I observed them eating plenty of leather jackets too. So I think intensive farming has been a disaster for Starlings.

Tom
You've noticed it, too? They were once a bit of a pest each year, now it's rare to to find even half a dozen in the house over the season. What are farmers doing to the land?
 
bert said:
Good numbers this end steve, they have had 2 good breeding years, and they really are the comics of the bird world a joy to watch.
bert.
They're one of the prettiest of birds, too, Bert. And it's good to see them back in larger numbers - I expect my neighbour's not so thrilled as he just can't sensibly leave his car in his driveway until the elderberry and blackberry season is over!
 
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scampo said:
They're one of the prettiest of birds, too, Bert. And it's good to see them back in larger numbers - I expect my neighbours not so thrilled as he just can't sensibly leave his car in his driveway until the elderberry and blackberry season is over!
YUP, a friend of our's came round today in his soft top car! and left the top down :eek!: :-O me thinks he lost his sense of humour!!
bert.
 
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