Wednesday 4th February 2026: Starling murmuration at Whixhall Moss

 I had a flying visit to Shropshire for grandparenting activities, but we managed to squeeze in a visit to Whixhall Moss to enjoy a spectacular Starling murmuration. We stood on the canal path overlooking Sinkers Pond, strategically positioning ourselves by a gap in the trees. We had not been there long before the first batch of Starlings  arrived, then another, and another, with numbers building rapidly to form a vast flock of birds filling the skies. Back and forth they flew, weaving long, trailing ribbons, graceful curves and pulsating waves as they shifted across the sky above the pond. At times they flew directly above us,  a blanket of silent dark birds pulled across the sky, completely silent, save for the rapid whirring of thousands of wings. As dusk drew closer, they gradually clenched tightly together as they drifted and danced in ever lower swirls, before chattering noisily as they swooped into the reedbed to roost, a low bush at the edge was dripping with  birds, which completely covered its bare branches as if it were suddenly clothed in full leaf. It was a magnificent and awe inspiring display.