murmurations

Winter is coming and the weather is getting colder an whilst we seek the warmth of a fire, birds seek each other. Through this we have dramatic winter roosts of raptors of of Starlings. I only found out recently (a few weeks ago) that there is a Starling roost at Startop's End Reservoir in Tring. I came upon it completely by accident after a photography trip to Tring. I was just photographing a swan in the evening light when suddenly a small flock of Starling flew over my head and began to circle the reed bed. Over time the flock increased in number until it was at least a few thousand strong. By the end they were covering the sky. I watched until they plunged into the reed bed leaving the sky completely empty. Since than I have been going every weekend and this week was the first time I managed to take any pictures with my DSLR rather than my SLR. It's hard to capture the true spectacle of a starling murmuration on camera, so these pictures are mostly experiments. The flock was nothing like the breathtaking murmurations you experience in somerset but it was still a spectacular view. Enjoy the pictures.

Thanks for reading.
Ephraim

What's going on?

If any of you are regular blog readers than you will know that I haven't written a post in quite a while. This is mostly due to not very much interesting birding activity going on. In the last few weeks I have mostly been focusing on my GCSE photography project. But I have been taking a lot of trips to Tring and other interesting places. In hope of getting some pictures but so far nothing out of the ordinary.
Apart from the Tufted Ducks all the pictures were taken on the Isle of Sheppey were I visited in the half term for a few days with my parents. Brief summary: Possible Red-rumped Swallow and possible Yellow-browed Warbler.

Brent Goose

Oystercatcher

Lapwing

Stonechat

Golden Plover

Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck