Explore with Steve Backshall: Fantastic flocks
Autumn is the perfect time to get outside and enjoy the spectacle of flocking birds. Steve Backshall gives his top tips on spotting these natural wonders.
Do you like being on your own? Or do you prefer hanging around with your friends? Some birds find it’s a good thing to stick together at this time of year. It might be safer in a group or it could be easier to find food if there are lots of pairs of eyes at work. Keep a special lookout this autumn for nature’s fantastic flocks and make a list of the ones you see.
Join the starling sleepover
Watch for pointy-winged starlings as the sun goes down. See them gathering in small bunches, sitting on a rooftop or wire, before heading off together. They’re going in the same direction, meeting up with other groups until they are all together in one massive flock. Our sites can play host to mega-massive flocks – it's not unusual to see 50,000 starlings flying in to some WWT sites every day at dusk.
But what were they doing there? The simple answer is that they had come for a sleepover, swirling around in the sky, then dropping into the reedbeds for the night. There’s safety in big numbers, as there are always some birds who are awake, with one eye out for predators.
Where to look
Watch out around your house late in the afternoon or check online to see if there are big winter starling roosts near you.
Did you know?
The UK’s starling population doubles in autumn as birds from continental Europe come here to escape harsher winters in the north.
On a bug hunt
You’ll hear this lot before you see them. Birdwatchers call them ‘mixed tit flocks’ and that’s just what they are. A mass of great tits, blue tits and coal tits flits through the trees, searching for tiny insects and spiders. Look carefully and you might spot other birds with them – a treecreeper or a nuthatch perhaps. Birds on a bug hunt cheep and chirrup continuously to keep in touch and to warn each other of any danger.
Where to look
Anywhere with lots of trees and bushes. Listen and look up.
Shorebird spectacular
Go to the seashore right now and you might see some of the biggest and most spectacular flocks around. When the tide’s out, it’s one big mudfeast, as wading birds dip their bills to pull out worms and shellfish. They stop off to refuel here on long migrations to the north or south.
Two of the most common waders are dunlin and knot. They form colossal flocks of thousands of birds in September. Visit when a very high tide pushes them off the mudflats, and you’ll see them dance and swirl in the sky as they move en masse to the land.
Where to look
Muddy shorelines on estuaries where rivers meet the sea. Top sites include Slimbridge and Llanelli.
Hello! My name is Jack
You might spot a flock of crows with their heads down, feeding in a ploughed field. But wait a minute, what kind of crows are they? Any flock above a handful is likely to be made up of rooks and jackdaws rather than carrion crows. These are very sociable birds that feed together and roost together too. Even though they’re both black, they look very different to each other. Jackdaws let you know who they are – they keep calling ‘Jack!’ Check out those striking pale eyes and the silvery sheen over the back of their heads. The rook giveaway is a bare whitish patch at the base of its big beak.
Where to look
Farm fields by day; tall trees at dusk. You’ll also see jackdaws in towns.
