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  1. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Starlings 2010 I know this is an old thread, but thought some new photos from this year's roost wouldn't go amiss. These were from Sunday evening, from the layby on the B7076. It was pretty busy, with 40-50 spectators, all getting a great display. First birds arrived at about 3.45, and it was...
  2. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    A few pics from Sunday evening. We watched from the layby, and as usual, they foiled us by roosting well behind the services, across the motorway from us. Good spectacle all the same.
  3. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Hi Graham. I went several times last autumn/winter, and whichever place I decided to view from, the birds roosted elsewhere - very frustrating. In my opinion, the best 'banker' is to park in the services, and walk back up to the bridge over the motorway. From there you have an elevated...
  4. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    There's a good Starling roost at Penrith too. Recent evenings have produced 50,000+ birds. Best viewing is from the KFC car park, opposite the hospital. Some photos here: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1624935#post1624935
  5. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Birding the Solway coast of D&G yesterday (Sunday), so dropped in at Gretna on the way home. After Brian's good reports, I was hoping for a good evening, but unfortunately, it was all rather disappointing. Starling numbers were lower than I've ever seen, and I would estimate only 30-40K. Mostly...
  6. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    I've not been to Gretna before this year, so my 4 visits over the past 6 weeks is all I have to go on. The first 3 times were all about the same, with about 1m birds each time. The last time, when I got the photo I used, was a couple of weeks ago, during that really cold snap we had (down to...
  7. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    OK, well I've counted them! Not individually of course, but based on the photo below (original was at a much higher resolution, but I've reduced it here so I could upload it), and taking what I perceived to be a pretty average rectangle, with a pixel size of 200x100, I did a count of a little...
  8. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Not sure really, but the 'performance' was over in about 5 minutes, as opposed to the 25-40 minutes we had been seeing before. Weather forecast at 21.00 was for 6-8 inches of snow overnight, so I wouldn't get too excited about driving up here tomorrow ;) Steve.
  9. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Back at Gretna again last night, and came away somewhat disapointed. I went to the layby to watch from, and (as always seems to happen to me), they went down to roost in the trees behind the services! More disapointing though were the numbers - impossible to put a figure on (for now), but I...
  10. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    If you do, when you are driving N up the A74M, across the big bridge over the Esk, cast your eyes to the left. I had a fleeting glimpse of what I 'think' was a group of about 10-12 little egrets in the fields. I was driving alone, and the view wasn't great, but they just looked too pure white to...
  11. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    "Showed the Gretna roost with the weather on BBC Look North this evening, wonder if it was tonight or library footage, sunset lead up looked similar to tonights" Looked at last night's Look North online, and it looks like it was indeed yesterdays action. I've just added another bit of video...
  12. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Just in from another trip up to Gretna, and they didn't disappoint. I watched from the Services access bridge over the motorway. I parked up in the Services car park, then walked back - only took a couple of minutes, and was well worth while. The birds DID roost in the woods at the back of the...
  13. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Hey Jos - just took a quick look through your web site. Stunning photos...but I didn't see one of that Starling ;)
  14. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Thanks Nick - thats a help. The early birds on Sunday did seem to fly straight overhead, and aim for that area, so maybe that is a good early sign of where to aim for. Do you know if they use the same roost for extended periods, or do they switch roosts day to day? For the roost at the...
  15. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Hi Craig. Not really certain enough of exactly where I was to give you a map reference, but this is from Multimap, and the red circle is pretty much in the right place...
  16. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Thanks Tom. Can't help much re Bedford, but try some of these links: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=starling+roosts&btnG=Google+Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB
  17. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Video is here: http://www.birdforum.tv/members/action/viewvideo/1224/Gretna_Starling_Roost/ Jhanlon - unfortunately, the uploaded video file has lost much of the detail from the original due to the heavy file compression, but if you really want to count the birds email me and I'll send you a...
  18. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    Hi Stewart. Thanks for that, but that WAS where we were watching from. The birds finally went to roost on the other side of the A74M from there, ie well behind us. I'm just working on the video now, so I'll post back here when its uploaded, and you'll see what I mean. Steve.
  19. oncebittern

    Gretna starling roost - how many??

    I was there this evening for the first time, and am just SO impressed. I've never seen so many birds together in one place before. I really wouldn't know where to begin with estimating the numbers though. If I was told there were a million birds, I would have no problem believing that, as at...
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