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Gretna starling roost - how many?? (1 Viewer)

J

Jhanlon

Well-known member
I've just been going through my bird records and was reminded of the huge starling roost at Gretna I saw about this time last yr. It was quite possibly the highlight of an exceptional birding weekend (on the Hebs) yet I haven't been able to even guess at the number of birds involved.

Is anyone aware of any attempts to estimate the flock size? (perhaps a local bird report might help). It's by far the largest flock I've seen of anything but I couldn't begin to guess at the flock size. On a quick Google search I came upon a figure of 100,000 or so by late October 2007 but it acknowledges numbers were building and there is clearly many more later in the season. Grateful for any help.
 
Visited 31/10/2008 and numbers building up could have been anywhere between 50-100,000 very difficult to estimate.

Stewart
 
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 times, they spread as far as the eye could see, from horizon to horizon, and in places, nearly blacked out the evening sky completely. Another chap that was there said it was his first time there this year, but that he had watched the roost regularly last year - in his opinion, tonight was the biggest roost he had ever seen. We were watching from the layby on the B7076, and whilst there were birds wheeling overhead for most of the time, they did NOT drop in to roost in the trees to the NE. The spectacular last few minutes of action actually took place on the other side of the A74M, SW of us, and whilst it was just visible, was mostly lost to us. I tried taking some video, so if I get a chance, I'll upload it to the Birdforum.TV site. However, there were just so many birds, that I had no chance of getting them all in frame at any one time, so even that won't really help with estimating numbers, though it may give some accurate minimums (if you have the stamina to count them!). I can't wait to get back and find the actual roost site another time...tomorrow maybe? Or perhaps they use different roosts at different times - anyone know?
 
Hi Steve, posted this on Yahoo D & G group to help others:- (dated 31/10/08) hope its of use.

View from the B7076 west of Gretna,from the Old blacksmiths shop
proceed along the B7076 towards Kirkpatrick Fleming, after approx half
a mile you see a double gate on the right hand side opposite an
obvious parking layby, park there and look over the gate to a small
conifer plantation to the east at far end of field and just slightly
to your right. I would suggest being in place just after 16.00hrs when
there will be groups of birds already there, also it can get popular
and there's only room for 6-8 cars in lay-by. Good for raptors preying
on Starlings, had 3-4 Buzzard and a large accipiter on dusk (Gos
regular apparently as are Peregrine.

PF Geese and occasionally Barnies fly over back toward Solway so its
not just about Starlings.

Awesome spectacle

Stewart
 
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.
 
Amazing video Steve,... I would like to see a roost like this myself, live. Where would the nearest place to Bedfordshire be where I may see something similar.

Tom
 
Very fortunate here in Brighton to have a substantial winter roost on the Palace Pier. Had a great time watching them gather over the centre of Brighton last week while waiting for a bus. Shoppers were pointing to the sky in awe as they began to congregate over the Mall. Smaller groups coming from all over to join the swirling masses. Still only around 20,000 but as winter progresses, numbers can rise to 50,000 plus. Many a year have I sat on the seafront watching the spectacle unfold against a red setting sun!
 
tjd said:
Amazing video Steve,... I would like to see a roost like this myself, live. Where would the nearest place to Bedfordshire be where I may see something similar.

Tom
Click to expand...

Last year there was a substantial roost at Lackford Lakes Nature Reserve near Bury St Edmonds - not too far from Bedford.

Perhaps worth a phone call to see if they are roosting there again this year.

Regards

Dave
 
oncebittern said:
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 DVD of the full 25 minutes film I took.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for the offer Oncebittern but luckily I did manage to get a bit of footage myself. It's on my home pc which has been playing up a bit but I'll try to dig it out and upload it if I can. I wouldn't know how to count birds in a flock that size :eek!:- I don't think the traditional methods really work, hence my appeal. But it might be worth a try. Or perhaps some regular watchers have a better way of estimating numbers.

Interested too in DJW's Lackford roost (anyone know more?) as the location is only half an hour from me.
 
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:

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=gretna&countryCode=GB#map=55.0067,-3.08295|14|4&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:55.00911:-3.07754:14|gretna|

However, the flock did not drop in top roost there, but actually well behind us to the SW, on the other side of the main road - probably only a mile or so away, but several miles by road to get to the right place. I'm hoping to get back there on Wednesday evening, and if I do, I'll take my GPS and come back armed with better details.
 
The Starlings have roosted in the small fir woods that line the south west edge of the Gretna Services in the past maybe thats where they were going in.

Nick
 
thorin said:
The Starlings have roosted in the small fir woods that line the south west edge of the Gretna Services in the past maybe thats where they were going in.
Click to expand...

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 services, is it best to view from within the services themselves, or do you know of a good site to the SW of there? We did take a drive round the back of that area on Sunday evening, but by then it was getting too dark to really know what we were looking at.

Looking at the map, there seems to be a bridge over the A74M at the services - does anyone know if this might be a good spot to view from, possibly getting both roost options visible from one place?
 
Amazing stuff, many of them are Baltic and Russian birds, I think I spotted the one that sits on my house in the summer ;) .... he was the 14,876th bird from the left just when they swooped into that real dark ball near the end.
 
Last edited:
oncebittern said:
Hey Jos - just took a quick look through your web site. Stunning photos...but I didn't see one of that Starling ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Indeed I think I have no photograph that really does justice to these birds.

Starlings are real appreciated birds out here, summer visitors only, they are a bit like the first swallow of the year, a sign of spring finally arriving after deep winter months. Gardeners and the public in general put nestboxes up for them, impressive given 'normal' nestboxes for tits etc are relatively rare ...I once had someone tell me the hole in one of my nestboxes was too small because a Starling would not be able to fit in :-O
 
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