Beautiful Starling murmurations captured at Eastbourne seafront

A murmuration is when thousands of birds all swoop and dive in unison, creating shapes in the sky.

They group together because it offers safety in numbers because predators find it hard to target one bird in the middle of a flock of thousands. as well to keep warm at night and to exchange information, such as good feeding areas. The group gathers over their roosting site, and perform their stunts before settling down for the night. A good roosting site is somewhere sheltered from harsh weather an predators, such as Eastbourne Pier.

The number of starlings in a roost can build up to around 100,000 in some places. Early evening, just before dusk, is the best time to see them across the UK. During the day they form daytime roosts at exposed places such as treetops, where the birds have good all-round visibility.

Pictures courtesy of Jon Rigby and Megan Baker.