Starlings hotline now active

We have a visitor coming to stay a few days who is a keen birdwatcher. We want to show him our wonderful Starlings. 

To find the best places to see them we will use the:

Avalon Marshes Starling Hotline - Ham Wall - Ham Wall - The RSPB ...

www.rspb.org.uk › Home › Places to visit › Ham Wall › Ham Wall

26 Oct 2012 - Yes, it's that time of year again and Starlings are beginning to swarm over Ham Wall at Dusk. The Avalon Marshes Starling Hotline is now LIVE. This is a recorded message telling you where the last known location of the Starling roost was. The number is: 07866 554142.

Starlings in Somerset

At 16.30 this afternoon I watched thousands of Starlings flying over Curry Rivel heading towards the Avalon Marshes. The flock size covered the village from South East to North West filling the sky. When they meet up with flocks from other areas they will almost certainly create the kind of image shown on the RSPB web site for Ham Wall.
linkhttp://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/reserves/guide/h/hamwall/starling_roost.aspx

This is an extract from the RSPB web site. The telephone hot line recommends a dawn visit to avoid the crowds  of spectators and the traffic congestion.

Image: David Kjaer

For information on the roosting starlings please phone the Avalon Marshes Starling Hotline - 07866 554142. Please do not leave enquiries on this number, as it is an automated service and they cannot be answered.

You can also find out more about the location and receive an automated email, by emailing starlings@rspb.org.uk

The starlings use sites managed by three different organisations - the RSPB (Ham Wall), Natural England (Shapwick Heath) and Somerset Wildlife Trust (Westhay Moor). There is very little parking available at any of the sites, so avoiding the weekend rush will greatly improve your visit.

Whenever you come, please follow any parking instructions given and avoid stopping on narrow verges or blocking gateways. There is no parking for coaches other than at The Avalon Marshes Centre situated between Shapwick and Westhay villages. Parking for the western end of Shapwick Heath is also at The Avalon Marshes Centre.

Please take care not to disturb the wildlife or other visitors, by keeping noise to a minimum and obeying rules about dogs and restricted access.

Starlings in Somerset

The RSPB provides this information about the roosting sites for Starlings

For information on the roosting starlings please phone the Avalon Marshes Starling Hotline - 07866 554142. Please do not leave enquiries on this number, as it is an automated service and they cannot be answered.

You can also find out more about the location and receive an automated email, by emailing starlings@rspb.org.uk.

The starlings use sites managed by three different organisations - the RSPB (Ham Wall), Natural England (Shapwick Heath) and Somerset Wildlife Trust (Westhay Moor). There is very little parking available at any of the sites, so avoiding the weekend rush will greatly improve your visit.

Whenever you come, please follow any parking instructions given and avoid stopping on narrow verges or blocking gateways. There is no parking for coaches other than at The Avalon Marshes Centre situated between Shapwick and Westhay villages. Parking for the western end of Shapwick Heath is also at The Avalon Marshes Centre.

Please take care not to disturb the wildlife or other visitors, by keeping noise to a minimum and obeying rules about dogs and restricted access.

Starlings

Starlings at Dawn!
Here is a good reason to join the Twitter family. Somerset Wildlife Trust provides a lot of news items this way and I recommend you sign up to Twitter and follow Somerset Wildlife Trust. I've copied the Tweet information which may give you a link to this particular photo. If you are already on Twitter then it should be straight forward.

I'm pleased to see this photo taken at dawn as the overnight roosting birds leave to to go back to their "day job" I fully intend to make the early visit myself soon.

SomersetWT Som Wildlife Trust

Cracking photo of the starlings leaving Ham Wall - early morning magic ow.ly/7iFjG #somersetstarlings #somersetlevels ^JA

or try this:


Starlings | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Starlings roosting displays.

Just checked the Hot Line for news about the starlings.

The Starling Hotline at 07866 554142 is NOW OPEN and starlings have been gathering locally round Langport for some time now. Last year the Hotline recommended visiting during the week or at DAWN which it says is just as good. Ham Wall is said to be the current  roosting locations.

See my earlier posts on the subject.

Starlings spectacular

 Many people visit this Blog searching for information on Starlings.  I cant provide any of my own photos this time but  Lyn Newton does a great job of regularly photographing the display at Westhay, Ham Wall  and other local reserves and I recommend your visit her web site using this link.   Click here:

Somerset Wildlife Trust

I've just been looking again at an earlier post on Starlings showing a video clip of a roosting display. On the screen with the clip from UTube are the admirable words, Join the RSPB. I hope lots of people do. But I must also urge you to join the Somerset Wildlife Trust  (SWT) , perhaps as well as  another conservation group, because it provides an all inclusive framework for all wildlife conservation. A natural focus point for our interests and concerns. There are many groups dealing with every thing from frogs to fungi and from birds to bumblebees and each one is contributing to our knowledge and awareness of the needs of wildlife.But it all needs a focus point if we are to succeed in our common aim of standing up for wildlife.

I'd like to quote words written in the cover of the 2010 National Trust Handbook because, for me, its strikes a cord and whilst it's promoting the National Trust, by changing just two words it is surely true of all experiences of wildlife and all our nature reserves and living landscapes.

We all need beauty. We all need fresh air, open doors, hidden depths, new views.

We need places that can lift our spirits and help us find a different rhythm in our lives.This kind of refreshment isn't a luxury; its vital. Extraordinary places can give us all this.

The National Trust stands up for these places. We give them a life into the future and we invite everyone to enjoy them. We help people belong to places and places belong to people.

 So do join the Wildlife Trusts and help the Trusts and the hundreds of volunteers to help wildlife  cope with all the pressures that our modern society places on it. Here in Somerset every winter we are lucky to have our starlings to lift our spirits.

Starlings

I wonder how our starlings are faring in this prolonged icy weather. Are they still flocking to Westhay and Hamwall to roost? Finding food in the fields must be difficult and it must take a lot of energy to fly ten or twenty miles just to settle in the reed beds of the levels. I must look this afternoon to see if they fly over our village at around 3.30 to 4.00 pm.
The starling hot line says ( lunch time Wednesday) that they are currently roosting at the Natural England site at Shapwick Heath. I have been surprised to find that they change the location from time to time.
I am hoping to get along to hear the talk on Starlings organised by the Taunton Dene local Group of SWT next Tuesday 12th Jan :
Talk on Starlings by Chris Sperring.
Why do starlings mass in the sky? Where do they come from? Chris Sperring, a well-known local naturalist, will explain the habits of starlings and their amazing gatherings over the Somerset Levels during the winter months. Tea, coffee & raffle. Children welcome. Meetings Room, Taunton Library, Paul Street, Taunton. Car park nearby. Suitable for wheelchair users/limited mobility. £2.50.

That will lead nicely onto our own meeting on Thursday 14th on British Owls in Langport. See our diary blog for details. Link here.

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.

Starlings Hotline

Photograph by Lynne Newton.

The Starling Hotline is working this afternoon and the telephone number is: 07866 554142.
The information given reports that starlings are roosting at Shapwick Heath, Natural England site and at Ham Wall , RSPB site. Click here for Ham Wall site.
You can also email for information to RSPB. Address is: ham.wall@rspb.org.uk
Large flocks of starlings have started gathering in the Curry Rivel area and I'm sure many other places.

Starlings

These photographs were taken by Lynne Newton.

(Visit Foxbiddy.com to see her photographs at http://www.foxybiddy.com/page/starlingspectacular/3)

They show the kind of images that can be seen on a good day and with a bit of luck. Being wild animals of course there are no guarantees for your visit. A clear sky is important for the best aerial display. I have just checked Lynne's web site and I should have done so first because she has published photographs taken at Westhay on 14th October2009 , so for the latest information go to her web site at this link Now read the post I had composed 10 minutes ago!!


Here's a quick update on the annual starling show.
Living a few miles from Westhay and Ham Wall reserves we always see the local starlings starting to fly over to their traditional roosting sites. We have already seen small groups in mid October.

The SWT usually provides information on the where and when they can be seen but there is nothing posted on their web site today. A search of their web site produces last years information including a Starling Hotline telephone number. The number has been run by the RSPB in the past but checking it today gives the message : "this hotline is closed ". So not much help there.

What I recommend is to call the normal office telephone numbers shown below and ask for the latest information.
It is a little early yet for a good display which I am told is at its best later in the winter after migrant birds have come to the UK from more northern latitudes. Maybe climate change or even random variations in temperature will delay the migration pattern.
Telephone numbers to try are:
RSPB HAM WALL Reserve: 01458 860494
Somerset Wildlife Trust main office: 01823 652400

Starlings in Gloucestershire

Here is a link to a BBC news item and video clip.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7860322.stm

Starlings

According to the counter on this blog most visitors recently have been searching for info on the starling roosting display. I also get telephone calls usually from members of the Wildlife Trust or via the Trusts web site.

All these photographs are provided by Lynne Newton, www.foxybiddy.com




At present all I can do is to say that starlings continue to fly over our house on route to the Westhay area and we also see them return in the morning, regular as clockwork. They fly in groups of various sizes , perhaps a dozen and sometimes hundreds. But in the last few days two pairs of starlings have started visiting our roof space. Two pairs have been nesting under the eves for some years now. Last year we noticed they were pulling out lumps of loft insulation which we find in the garden and they have just started again this week. I'm not sure whether they stay here at night but it is an interesting observation. I must try to check it further.

Photographs of the display can be seen here: Lynne Newton, www.foxybiddy.com

The Somerset Wildlife Trust has a page with advice about the occurrence. Link here.

The RSPB has a telephone hotline number at 07866 554142.

Lyn Newtons photos are quite remarkable and should show you just how dramatic the sight can be.

You need to go on a fine day and there is no guarantee that these wild birds will perform every time.
Its the same with wildlife photography, you need a lot of patience and I wish you luck.

Lynne Newton www.foxybiddy.com

Starlings hotline for roosting information

I called the hot line number today to check for their advice.
There is a longish intro giving advice about the problems of parking in the area and suggesting that visitors should be there early in the week as it gets very busy at the weekends and to arrive at least 1 hour before dusk. Choose a fine day which is more likely to produce the aerial displays with a million birds in the air performing their dramatic formation flying.
It concludes by saying the birds are roosting at the RSPB Ham Wall reserve at present.

For information on the roosting starlings please phone the RSPB Avalon Marshes Starling Hotline - 07866 554142.

PS. It is not unusual for the birds to change their roosting sites from time to time.

Starlings hotline for roosting information

Somerset Wildlife Trust provides information on its web site linked here

Here is a service provided by the RSPB.

For information on the roosting starlings please phone the Avalon Marshes Starling Hotline - 07866 554142.



RSPB Ham Wall reserve, showing area of open water and reed

Parking Disabled access

Here you can enjoy a newly created wetland, which provides a safe home for many rare species including water voles and otters. In spring the reedbeds are alive with birdsong and in autumn you can see kingfishers flashing up and down the ditches. Bitterns are seen regularly in winter.

Opening times:

Open at all times.

Entrance charges:

Free, but donations to help us continue our work here are welcome.
Starling roost information:



The starlings use sites managed by three different organisations - the RSPB (Ham Wall), Natural England (Shapwick Heath) and Somerset Wildlife Trust (Westhay Moor). There is very little parking available at any of the sites, so avoiding the weekend rush will greatly improve your visit.

Whenever you come, please follow any parking instructions given and AVOID stopping on narrow verges or blocking gateways. There is NO PARKING FOR COACHES other than at The Peat Moors Centre situated between Shapwick and Westhay villages. Parking for the western end of Shapwick Heath is also at the Peat Moors centre.

Please take care not to disturb the wildlife or other visitors, by keeping noise to a minimum and obeying rules about dogs and restricted access.