13 of the best places to see roosting starlings | 台北市立動物園資訊網

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As autumn progresses, the UK starling population doubles to 16 million birds. They land en masse and nestle together to keep warm and (so the theory goes) chatter about good feeding grounds.

Reedbeds and large buildings with ledges are favoured roost sites, but woods and cliffs are used as well. Starlings often switch roost sites, so try to get up-to-date local information before you set off.

Check the forecast, too: the most extrovert displays are in clear, calm, cold conditions. Wrap up warm, arrive an hour before twilight and select your viewpoint carefully: do you prefer the descending sun to illuminate the starlings or provide a crimson backdrop?

Shape-shifting congregations of thousands of starlings at dusk, called murmurations, have an almost volcanic energy.

“Carousels of birds chimed and merged, like iron filings made to bend to a magnet,” writes birder Tim Dee in his book The Running Sky. But explaining how starlings g...