Wildlife November 2011

[Michael J Campbell]

They are starlings, that is only a few miles north-east of here.

[mark smyth]

That video has been going around recently. Like Michael says they are starlings roosting on an island on the river Shannon

[Maggi Young]

The lovely starling video has just been on TV... BBC's Autumnwatch programme.

The fact that the birds were over water and could thus swoop very low is more spectacular than watching   them come together around buildings and trees.... I thought the video was super.

[TC]

There is a famous Starling roost at Gretna which can be seen from the motorway service area.  Up to 1 million birds are reckoned to be in the air performing their flight before landing.
This used to be a common sight in Glasgow when the birds would come in from foraging in the countryside  50/60 years ago.  It was advisable to walk with an umbrella up when they were flying !

[Hoy]

I thought it had to be starlings. I have seen huge flocks of starlings on TV but never in real life. Although starlings are common here they never gather like that. You can collect amounts of guano where they roost then

[mark smyth]

The starling video was by far better on an HD TV

[mark smyth]

Starlings at Gretna Green in the shape of a dolphin
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/8898670/Pictures-of-the-day-18-November-2011.html

[scatigaz]

Wow. What a photo.

[Hoy]

Feel a little schizophrenia? What about this one:

http://www.vg.no/bildespesial/spesial.php?id=8549

[Paul T]

Well they do say that two heads are better than one. 

[mark smyth]

Bad dog!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmLOokbPTvI[/youtube]

[Stephenb]

Amazing starling video/pictures! Many of them will be breeding birds from Norway that almost all overwinter in the UK. The biggest flocks observed here have been estimated to be about 50,000 on the South West coast of Norway (not far from Trond!) waiting for favourable weather for crossing the North Sea...

[Maggi Young]

Bad dog!

Idiot owner!

[TC]

Unfortunately there are too many about!!  On my local beach, bird watching is almost impossible now as is letting young children make sandcastles.  People pull up with their 4x4's, open the tailgates and packs of dogs jump out and race for the beach.  They are totally out of control and can terrify young children.  Last week I counted 17 dogs , unsupervised on a half mile stretch of the beach.  As far as I can make out it is professional dog walkers who bring them there so there is probably no individual control. Not to mention the dog dirt that they fail to pick up
Feeding birds are continuously disturbed and lose valuable feeding time which can mean the difference between life or death in the short Winter days.
I feel a 1000 word rant coming on so I will close before I offend someone.

[mark smyth]

I agree with Tom. Bird watching along our beeches is almost impossible too.

When I went to look at wild geese on Sunday there was at least one dog per car but not our cars. It was locals who out because it was a lovely day.

At our last stop a man and woman arrived at a wildfowl refuge with their springer. They were about to go on to the land when our leader let fly. We were amazed by the flocks of Golden plover, Lapwings, Whooper swans, various ducks and geese. They didnt care and said it's good exercise for the dog and it keeps the wildfowl wild because there are no wolves in Ireland.