Move over starling....... (1 Viewer)

[El Annie]

In conserv@tion today - http://www.habitat.org.uk/news1.htm

Starlings are creating a spectacular sight at a Gloucestershire wildlife nature reserve. "Favourable winds" are not only helping to bring in Bewick's Swans to the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, they are also carrying along another group of winter guests - thousands of starlings. Staff estimate a whopping 100,000 to 250,000 starlings are putting on an amazing display every day in the skies over the Slimbridge reserve. Every afternoon, at around 4pm, the starlings can be seen swooping and swarming in huge numbers, as they group together in preparation for an evening's roost in the dense bushes and trees.
More information - this is gloucestershire

 

[T0ny]

Starling roosts are an amazing sight - earlier this year, at Holme NWT, the telephone cables were quite literally black with starlings, and seemed to be sagging far more than usual due to the weight. When they took off, the wires whipped around as though caught in a gale, and the slower starlings were catapulted off them ! They flew overhead, literally darkening the sky, and the whirring of wings drowned out all other sound.

Tony

 

[Colin]

I have taken some pictures of the flock at Slimbridge. They are on my website. Go here

http://www.colinbutters.com/Pics/ST4.jpg

or to the home page of the site.

There are about 22,000 (that's twenty two thousand) birds in this picture.
It is too big for the gallery or to make an attachment and I don't want to cut the picture down as I would lose some birds from it. .

Colin

 

[IanF]

Dramatic shot Colin, I've never seen that many together.

Do you not have a program to optimise your photos such as Paint Shop Pro. You can really reduce the kb count without sacrificing image quality.

Here is your photo weighing in at 54 kb instead of 297 kb !

Copy it and post in the Gallery if you want - it's yours anyway

 

[Colin]

Thanks very much Ian. I have now popped it into the gallery as well.


Colin

 

[El Annie]

Wow Colin - that's something else!!!!!!

El Annie:t: