Soup and starlings

It's the season of starling murmurations. We went to the Newport Wetlands this afternoon to see them. Heavy rain clouds meant it was getting dark early so the birds were dropping down to roost in the reed beds. Our very informative RSPB guide gave us lots of interesting information about them - they don't sleep, just twitter away and jostle for position all night. By the morning the reeds may be flattened in which case they have to look for a new roosting site on the reserve the following night. And also - and this is demonstrated in this action shot - they accelerate towards landing!!! There's a brilliant mumuration in Ireland captured in this video.