Safety in Numbers

I was out doing local track and trace today and as I pulled up to one of my visits I noticed a bloke at the adjacent property staring intently towards the sky.  As I got out of the car I looked up in the general direction of his stare to see these starlings congregating on the telephone wires.  It’s definitely an indication of the season and a signal to start looking out for murmurations.

I had no luck with the visit, no one at home. As I came back to the car the starlings flew off only to circle the pole and return to their perches within a few seconds.  The bloke I’d spotted earlier was still staring intently, seemingly immovable in his concentration.  What made me laugh was that another neighbour’s door opened and a head popped out.

“What are they?” he shouted towards me.  “Starlings”, I replied. He scrunched up his face and then asked “what can be done about them?”. “Not a lot” I replied to which he shrugged his shoulders and stepped back into the house and closed the door.  I looked around to the first bloke expecting a reaction but he was impassive, still staring Intently at the birds. 

Nowt so funny as folk.