Spellbinding starling murmuration above Aberystwyth captured by drone

Stephen Price

A photographer and videographer from Aberystwyth has shared an astonishing video of the world-renowned starling murmurations above Aberystwyth’s seafront.

Aled from AGR Media took the footage of the seaside town’s remarkable spectacle on Saturday 22 February and shared it with Aberystwyth News Facebook Group the following day.

Aberystwyth’s most spectacular natural phenomenon famously occurs at dusk in the autumn and winter months.

Thousands of starlings fly in to roost under the pier at night, arriving in separate groups from the surrounding countryside and as the numbers build and they will sometimes engage in a spectacle of synchronised flying before finally settling down for the night.

Each dusk as the sky fills with birds, the prom fills with a small, dedicated, hopeful crowd of birdwatchers and photographers with their optical appendages ready to appreciate the coming spectacle.

West is best

Starlings mostly feed by foraging in pastures, grasslands and fields for grain, seed and insects – especially crane fly larvae.

With the onset of winter frosts in Scandinavia and Central Europe the ground becomes too hard for them to feed so they migrate to join the small resident population in the mild West.

Sadly, Aberystwyth’s resident population has decreased over recent years and now starlings are on the ‘Red List’ of threatened species, but the town’s love for the birds which have great importance in Welsh mythology, knows no bounds – with the promenade featuring some spectacular artwork that is beloved by tourists and residents alike.

Instinct and the weather determines exactly when the migration happens but generally, the numbers start to increase from the Autumn Equinox – but could be delayed by a mild Autumn or strong windy storms.

Similarly, numbers decrease as the Spring Equinox approaches – but could be delayed by particularly hard or late frosts.

Aled told Nation.Cymru: “I’ve filmed, and taken photos of the starlings a few times, but that was my first time filming them with my drone.

“I was looking for a different angle than what people usually see, and they were making some amazing shapes so I’m really happy how the video came out.”

Murmurations

Scientists believe that murmurations offer safety in numbers; protection from predators like peregrine falcons that are attracted by the sheer number of birds.

After all, it can’t be easy to single out just one starling from a whirling group of hundreds or even thousands.

Experts still aren’t completely sure how each starling knows which way to turn without bumping into the others.

As the number of starlings reaches its peak and the last of the daylight begins to fade, an unspoken signal seems to tell the group to funnel towards the ground with one last sweeping motion and calming whoosh of wings.

Murmurations always form over the birds’ communal roosting site – and Aberystwyth offers one of the most jaw dropping examples imaginable thanks to the panoramic skyscape of land, sea and beautiful Welsh buildings.

See more of Aled’s work online here.