Forum home› Wildlife gardening
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Missing the Starlings

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 274
in Wildlife gardening
The user and all related content has been deleted.
«13

Posts

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 274
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • pbffpbff Posts: 433
    We have lots of starlings in the garden at the moment, which is great because I really love them. They have such beautiful plumage and I love the way they walk - they always remind me of Charlie Chaplin! Starlings are in decline however and currently have a UK conservation status of red.
    🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    We've lived in this house for 9 years. In the first few years we were here, I don't think I saw any starlings, or not enough together for me to notice they were starlings. But 2 years ago I saw a small group of them in the field above us a few times, there were more last year, and this winter there were enough to make a very small murmuration, which was lovely to see.
    It's not like it used to be 20 odd years ago or more, when I remember watching huge winter flocks swooping about the Cornish sky, or when you couldn't hear yourself think walking through the streets of Bath at dusk for the racket of starlings roosting on the buildings.
    But just around here, there does seem to have a been a small fightback in the last year or two. I hope so :)
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 274
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    We have a small flock of starlings - but big enough for Sainsbury' s to install a scarer - fair enough - they **** on the trolleys.
    They roost on a gasometer which is going to be dismantled to build an Ald,i apparently. I like the gasometer, it's blue and well-maintained - not even rusty and it's what passes for an ancient monument in our area.
    But, come to think of it, I haven't seen any starlings for a few months. Are they migratory? I hope so, or else we've lost them too.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Starling numbers are crashing across Europe.
  • FirecrackerFirecracker Posts: 256
    We have fewer than in years gone by, but the few we have dominate the feeders! No other birds dare go near.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 274
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I know that that they annoy birdfeeders but I think they're magical - or were- when you could see clouds of them wheeling about the sky. It's so sad that they've gone.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
Sign In or Register to comment.