As I said in my Entry about the Burton Mere nature reserve, it is worth visiting at different times of year to see different birds and also to experience different conditions. In particular, as winter is approaching, the sun sets relatively early so the nature reserve was still open at dusk when I visited recently.

The reserve staff had just announced that the Reception Hide would be closing in 15 minutes when they realised that some starlings were beginning to form a murmuration. They called everyone back to the windows and we all enjoyed the display as more and more birds gathered.

I took some photos, but realised they didn't do justice to the fascinating movement of the birds as they swooped and swirled around. I switched my camera to Movie mode and recorded the starlings until they finally swooped away and down into the trees to roost for the night.

Back at my computer the next day, I uploaded the recording into my video editing software and decided to explore what soundtracks were on offer within the software to accompany the visual display. By impressive coincidence, Pachelbel's Canon in D was exactly the same length as the video I had captured, and the music complemented the movement of the birds surprisingly well. Thus I present to you A Murmuration of Starlings.

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