Tuesday 10 November 2015

Fly past


One of the things I can be relied upon to say,
as I struggle to find anything to like about
this time of year is,

At least the flies have gone.

But here is a sight to add to my glass half empty -
 a murmuration over marshes at dusk.


First they flew past us
in a continuous stream.






Then the line coalesced into an ovoid,


before swooping down to roost for the night.
This sequence took just 15 seconds.
We were so lucky to catch it as we drove past.

13 comments:

  1. Lucille, I have never, never seen anything like what your photographs reveal. What true beauty!

    Thank you so much for letting the rest of us see what you saw in those 15 seconds. xo

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  2. Wow! Yes, you were lucky to catch it. Much as we have tried, up to now a murmuration has eluded us. I think I recognise those grain silos on the horizon - perhaps this is the road coming out of Rye towards Appledore and Tenterden?

    I once lived in a very old house overlooking Shirley Moor near Woodchurch and these silos dominated the horizon for many a mile.

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    Replies
    1. It was the Winchelsea Sea Road driving towards Pett. There is an area of low lying marsh on the other side of the sea wall.

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  3. I love watching this! Mesmerising and awe inspiring.

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  4. Absolutely glorious, how lucky you got to see it. We had little murmurations outside our house a couple of years ago. Every day at dusk we would go and watch them out of the window. We never got tired of seeing it, and that final fast swoop into the trees is amazing. CJ xx

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  5. I have always wanted to see a murmuration - I am very envious

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  6. Murmurations are amazing, an amazing spectacle. They never fail to make me stop and watch and I always wonder how do they do it?

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  7. They used to murmur behind our house quite regularly although not for a few years now - a wonderful sight.

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  8. So, you have all the darling Starlings?! I'd like to have some of them back, if you please, I miss them dreadfully.

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  9. How absolutely brilliant. I'd love to see one. Murmuration is also a fabulous word.

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  10. It was so windy at our house today I spent too much time watching a murmuration of leaves skitter across the lawn. Most of them have gone to roost in the basement window wells and the corner between the front porch and garage, and I will have to rake them later, but they have given such amusement I won't mind at all.

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  11. It's always breathtaking . Living near the coast , as we do , we see them , too , occasionally .
    Wonderful ... unless you have to cycle underneath . A neighbour took to going off to work in a plastic poncho .

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