In the 8 years I’ve worked at Tetbury Library, one of the highlights of winter has been looking westward down Close Gardens to see a glorious murmuration of starlings taking flight in the dusk air behind the houses on the main road, forming their amazing shapes before diving down to roost in the trees lining the playing fields behind. Over those years, the murmuration size has been around 300 birds, sometimes more like 400, sometimes slightly less. But this year I was saddened to see the murmuration size dramatically reduced to little over 50 birds. Does anyone in Tetbury know what has happened or noticed this drastic reduction in starling numbers?
That’s really sad to hear. Starlings have taken massive a hit over recent decades. They used to be so common! Sadly, the decline of invertebrates are likely a major factor.
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Definitely, I’m continuing to keep an eye on it. I have posted on the local Tetbury FB page about it and thankfully there are other murmurations around town, so it may be that some of the ones I’ve seen have simply moved location. Fingers crossed.
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