Tuesday, 1 December 2015

Stars of the Earth & Sky

On Friday we made our final visit of 2015 to Potteric Carr.  This was the last chance to look at the earthstars.  We had brief views of the Kingfisher and found a moth hiding beneath a bramble fruit.  However, it was the Starling Murmuration for those who stayed behind, which proved to be the stand-out spectacle.
All photos (c) 2015 Mike Woods (unless stated differently)
Starling Murmuration
 Earthstar
  Earthstar - underside
 Spores Dispersing
 Ditto
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 Spores Dispersing (c) 2015 Jeny Clarkson
 Reed Bunting
 Sulphur Tuft
 Birch Polypore
 Herald Moth [ID Stephen Root & Barry Warrington]
 Ditto
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 Hoof Fungus hybrid??

This is one participant's verbatim description of the murmuration:

The starlings were amazing.  We left the cafe at 3.45 and walked along the service road towards the reserve entrance. At first, as we looked ahead, we could only see small groups gathering but eventually there were thousands, at times flying directly above us, so close that we could hear and almost feel the sound and movement of their wings.  We stayed on the road and the spectacle continued for almost half an hour.  Maybe we were just lucky with the timing of our visit, but we were told that the previous evening they had estimated 25000 birds and Friday’s had an even higher number.

Well worth staying late for and driving home in the rain! 
Starlings
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2 comments:

Stephen Root said...

Hi Michael,

Your moth is a Herald, always a nice one to find

Michael Flowers said...

Thanks Stephen, and to Barry who emailed the correct ID. I've newer seen one before, but it was great to see