At the local RSPB reserve at Fen Drayton, the Starling roost was attacting many visitors so on Monday afternoon, I went to check it out. The Sunday roost was estimated at around 28,000 birds, not large compared with some in the country like the Somerset Levels where up to a million have been reported, but enough to make an impression.

Starling roost are best photographed against the sun setting in a clear sky but there was cloud on the horizon that was not ideal but after a while, the birds started to fly in and wheel in the sky before diving into the reeds to roost.

There has been some discussion on the local Cambirds site about the procedures for accurately counting such flocks of birds. I will not attempt to estimate the numbers in these images, nor in this one that I took particularly to post on the Cambridge Bird Club website to see if any one would attempt it.

So far no takers.