saw flock of starlings in somerset dancing across the sky,I have seen them here before near a farm they seem to roost but today they were flying in numbers across a beautiful blue sky.
Hate to tell you but we had starlings nesting in our house wall (through a broken air vent) for 3 years and they never went anywhere! They were there when we moved in here and just stayed all year making a terrible racket and the only way we got rid of them was to put up a new vent and block the hole one day when they had all flown out to my feeders! I love them in the garden now they don't wake me up every morning! But I have every sympathy for you, good luck!
Not only are starlings resident in UK but they are joined in winter by visitors from further north, where they are summer visitors. So you should always have some, depending on food availability.
Hi all I have really enjoyed reading your comments and have had a giggle at some of them...thanks...I was looking to see whether starlings migrate as they are growing in number in my garden and eating all the mealworm I put out for my 1 Robin! I am pleased to to see them as they have been nonexistent in my area for a couple of years. As have all the garden birds..very sparse. I have been thrilled to see about 12 house sparrows, 2 blue Tits, 2 great Tits, 1 Robin, 1 Jay, and about 8 starlings. I live in Dagenham which is greater London, we used to have a lot of small birds but the decline of hedges and front gardens being paved for cars seemed to have a big impact on the birdlife.
I must say that I have quite enjoyed the starlings doing an impression of a humming bird to get the mealworm so from the new feeder which I hoped would be starling proof...have just fitted a hood to it in an attempt to protect the mealworm from starlings...time will tell! ?
We're in Norfolk and they do seem to be quite nomadic - some years we have quite a few nesting here in the summer and other years only one or two if any. In the winter they all seem to move to the reedbeds around the Broads.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
On a recent nature programme, it was mentioned that lots of birds that we call resident actually do migrate but the migration may be by only a few tens of miles further south. They are then replaced by birds from a few miles further north. Even robins and blackbirds do it, if I recall correctly so the ones you have in summer in your garden may not be the same ones you had in winter.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
In the winter months, the British resident starling population is supplemented by vast numbers of birds migrating from eastern Europe, when the weather gets too cold there for them.
They generally start to arrive towards the end of September or the beginning of October and continue to arrive throughout November.
They only return to their homeland in early March or April, when our native starlings start to go to nest.
Starlings are of course a Red Listed Species in Britain, with decline in numbers being the worst in southern and western parts. However, the latest study shows that numbers are now also declining in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Starlings feed efficiently in flocks, which can of course be a problem if you're looking to feed other species.
You can get large wire cages to go over ground feeding tables that keep larger birds out. Of course, the blackbirds can't get to the food either with these, but it might be worth thinking of.
We have starlings in the garden all year round, in large numbers and they nest in the soffits in the spring.
Fortunately, I love them -- you could always direct them to come this way if you really don't want them!
British born Starlings in mild winter weather move very little and remain in smaller localised family groups. As food diminishes they move and at the same time smaller family groups tend to join other families and flocks slowly grow in size. As the winter progresses and the weather gets colder and or a food supply is exhausted they move on and form even larger groups and so on and on. The greater the severity of the weather and a diminishing food source the further they move and the larger the flocks become.
Starlings reared in northern Europe normally migrate southward as part of there normal lifecycle every year and are considered migratory but birds reared further south are less likely to move very far at all and even further south they don't move at all. Britain is fairly central and british starlings move very little in normal winter weather but they are joined by vast flocks of there northern cousins every winter.
Generally birds move south but not always though as it's possible to get colder weather and snow etc in the south and milder weather further north and birds will then move northward. In extreme situations birds will move thousands of miles or not at all.
Mild winter weather or season can be considered extreme weather when colder weather is the norm.
Our winter has been extremely mild so far and our starlings and there northern cousins are spread out thinly over the whole country at the mo in small groups so we are seeing a lot more of them. If we get some colder more normal winter weather then they will move and concentrate themselves closer to our larger cities and we will see a lot less of them in our more rural gardens.
Starlings don't eat as much as you may think though either because they are very untidy and aggressive at the feeding stations and a lot of the food just gets scattered all over the place for other birds to enjoy when the starlings have buggered off.
This is what I do:
It allows smaller birds in and keeps the larger birds out and it's cheap to do. You can cage off only a part or half the table or have two tables and cage one of them.
Most people tend to hate them at the garden feeders but they are an important part of our countries wildlife and they are considered endangered.
We tend to think of mild winter weather as being a good thing for our wildlife in general but this is not true at all. In fact mild winter weather is a serious problem for our bats, mice, butterflies and moths and other pollinators as they cannot hibernate properly and die of starvation and our butterflies and moths rot away caused by fungal infections.
Actually laughing aside birds do have accents not joking they do, well they do insofar as a seasoned experienced birder with a good ear can separate out a singing Russian Starling from a Spanish Starling.
This applies to all our birds that normally cover a very large area such as Europe.
A Scandinavian Robin, chaffinch and so on do sing differently to our own british cousins but because we never hear them singing side by side the differences are far too subtle for us to separate them apart.
Record them singing in there own countries and bring those recordings together and the differences can be quite startling.
Northern birds are on average a good percentage larger and heavier than there southern cousins and with a trained eye and experience it is possible to separate out your local british chaffinch from its Scandinavian cousin on your own bird table.
Ringers ringing birds in the hand in spring and autumn can quickly say that a bird originated from in some circumstances a very small geographic are of Russia for example even though it does not have a ring already because of what it looks like, its size and weight. Not because of its species.
A very obvious one is the blackbird, if your blackbird has a black bill it's European not british, if the bill colour is orange to red its a british blackbird and they do sing differently and yet they are exactly the same species. It's our own british blackbird that is different to the rest of Europe. A British blackbird found on the European continent is a rare find and European birders will travel a long way to see one as our british blackbird is not considered migratory at all normally but the European blackbird is.
Posts
saw flock of starlings in somerset dancing across the sky,I have seen them here before near a farm they seem to roost but today they were flying in numbers across a beautiful blue sky.
Hate to tell you but we had starlings nesting in our house wall (through a broken air vent) for 3 years and they never went anywhere!
They were there when we moved in here and just stayed all year making a terrible racket and the only way we got rid of them was to put up a new vent and block the hole one day when they had all flown out to my feeders! I love them in the garden now they don't wake me up every morning! But I have every sympathy for you, good luck! 
Not only are starlings resident in UK but they are joined in winter by visitors from further north, where they are summer visitors. So you should always have some, depending on food availability.
Hi all I have really enjoyed reading your comments and have had a giggle at some of them...thanks...I was looking to see whether starlings migrate as they are growing in number in my garden and eating all the mealworm I put out for my 1 Robin! I am pleased to to see them as they have been nonexistent in my area for a couple of years. As have all the garden birds..very sparse. I have been thrilled to see about 12 house sparrows, 2 blue Tits, 2 great Tits, 1 Robin, 1 Jay, and about 8 starlings. I live in Dagenham which is greater London, we used to have a lot of small birds but the decline of hedges and front gardens being paved for cars seemed to have a big impact on the birdlife.
I must say that I have quite enjoyed the starlings doing an impression of a humming bird to get the mealworm so from the new feeder which I hoped would be starling proof...have just fitted a hood to it in an attempt to protect the mealworm from starlings...time will tell! ?
We're in Norfolk and they do seem to be quite nomadic - some years we have quite a few nesting here in the summer and other years only one or two if any. In the winter they all seem to move to the reedbeds around the Broads.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
On a recent nature programme, it was mentioned that lots of birds that we call resident actually do migrate but the migration may be by only a few tens of miles further south. They are then replaced by birds from a few miles further north. Even robins and blackbirds do it, if I recall correctly so the ones you have in summer in your garden may not be the same ones you had in winter.
In the winter months, the British resident starling population is supplemented by vast numbers of birds migrating from eastern Europe, when the weather gets too cold there for them.
They generally start to arrive towards the end of September or the beginning of October and continue to arrive throughout November.
They only return to their homeland in early March or April, when our native starlings start to go to nest.
Starlings are of course a Red Listed Species in Britain, with decline in numbers being the worst in southern and western parts. However, the latest study shows that numbers are now also declining in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Starlings feed efficiently in flocks, which can of course be a problem if you're looking to feed other species.
You can get large wire cages to go over ground feeding tables that keep larger birds out. Of course, the blackbirds can't get to the food either with these, but it might be worth thinking of.
We have starlings in the garden all year round, in large numbers and they nest in the soffits in the spring.
Fortunately, I love them -- you could always direct them to come this way if you really don't want them!
British born Starlings in mild winter weather move very little and remain in smaller localised family groups. As food diminishes they move and at the same time smaller family groups tend to join other families and flocks slowly grow in size. As the winter progresses and the weather gets colder and or a food supply is exhausted they move on and form even larger groups and so on and on. The greater the severity of the weather and a diminishing food source the further they move and the larger the flocks become.
Starlings reared in northern Europe normally migrate southward as part of there normal lifecycle every year and are considered migratory but birds reared further south are less likely to move very far at all and even further south they don't move at all. Britain is fairly central and british starlings move very little in normal winter weather but they are joined by vast flocks of there northern cousins every winter.
Generally birds move south but not always though as it's possible to get colder weather and snow etc in the south and milder weather further north and birds will then move northward. In extreme situations birds will move thousands of miles or not at all.
Mild winter weather or season can be considered extreme weather when colder weather is the norm.
Our winter has been extremely mild so far and our starlings and there northern cousins are spread out thinly over the whole country at the mo in small groups so we are seeing a lot more of them. If we get some colder more normal winter weather then they will move and concentrate themselves closer to our larger cities and we will see a lot less of them in our more rural gardens.
Starlings don't eat as much as you may think though either because they are very untidy and aggressive at the feeding stations and a lot of the food just gets scattered all over the place for other birds to enjoy when the starlings have buggered off.
This is what I do:
It allows smaller birds in and keeps the larger birds out and it's cheap to do. You can cage off only a part or half the table or have two tables and cage one of them.
Most people tend to hate them at the garden feeders but they are an important part of our countries wildlife and they are considered endangered.
We tend to think of mild winter weather as being a good thing for our wildlife in general but this is not true at all. In fact mild winter weather is a serious problem for our bats, mice, butterflies and moths and other pollinators as they cannot hibernate properly and die of starvation and our butterflies and moths rot away caused by fungal infections.
Oooops I forgot to add............
Actually laughing aside birds do have accents not joking they do, well they do insofar as a seasoned experienced birder with a good ear can separate out a singing Russian Starling from a Spanish Starling.
This applies to all our birds that normally cover a very large area such as Europe.
A Scandinavian Robin, chaffinch and so on do sing differently to our own british cousins but because we never hear them singing side by side the differences are far too subtle for us to separate them apart.
Record them singing in there own countries and bring those recordings together and the differences can be quite startling.
Northern birds are on average a good percentage larger and heavier than there southern cousins and with a trained eye and experience it is possible to separate out your local british chaffinch from its Scandinavian cousin on your own bird table.
Ringers ringing birds in the hand in spring and autumn can quickly say that a bird originated from in some circumstances a very small geographic are of Russia for example even though it does not have a ring already because of what it looks like, its size and weight. Not because of its species.
A very obvious one is the blackbird, if your blackbird has a black bill it's European not british, if the bill colour is orange to red its a british blackbird and they do sing differently and yet they are exactly the same species. It's our own british blackbird that is different to the rest of Europe. A British blackbird found on the European continent is a rare find and European birders will travel a long way to see one as our british blackbird is not considered migratory at all normally but the European blackbird is.