Starlings at Ham Wall

Further update on the Starling Hotline ( 07866 554142) at 16.11.09. The Starlings are apparently staying away from Westhay and continuing to roost at Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath.


Starlings at Ham Wall

Photo by Lynne Newton. Click here for her latest photos and starling up date.

A new experiment for me is to try to include a video clip showing starlings roosting. So here goes.





Now here is my update on the Starling situation.

Yesterday afternoon ( 6th Nov) we had some visitors who wanted to go to see the display. By the time we started out it was about 4 pm and the weather was not promising. On the way it started raining and was becoming more cloudy. We had checked the hotline and were told Ham Wall was a current roosting site. Not having been there before we were a little vague about its location . It took longer to reach the site than we had allowed. However we spotted a car park with a group of people wearing all weather gear and pulled in . It was the right place and it was 5 pm with 100% cloud and rain and quite breezy. My assessment was proved correct by talking to the group which turned out to be bird watchers. Yes the starlings were roosting at Ham Wall. However they had arrived an hour before we did , that was about 4 pm, and we were way too late. About an hour and a half I would guess.

Conclusion;

• the bad weather had not stopped the birds flying in to the roosting site,they were there probably about half an hour before sun set, and because we had not checked how early sun set is at present, which today is about 4.35 pm, we had missed a chance to see them.
• We have learned that there is a car park at Ham Wall and it is about 600 metres to the roosting site so we will try again. Today looks a much better day but that means it will be quite crowded.