Starlings in startling numbers.

[DaiS]

I am lucky enough to live and work in a wildlife rich area of Britain and one of my favourite things about my morning is watching the fast mving clouds which are the starlings on their morning jaunts. As we drive home past the estuary and onto the coast road we see them congregating to watch the sunset into the ocean. However today I saw something I have never seen. My boys first noticed a large flock of starlings moving to the estuary overhead, as we looked the sky grew dark with another flock coming in from a different direction. There seemed to be no end to them. Then as we came to the traffic lights we noticed police men looking over the bank on the side of the road and the the next thing we knew, there came hundreds of thousands of starlings up from below the bank where the estuary is. We were literally surrounded by them. It took my breath away. The trees I had taken no notice of suddenly became and shed their leaves which were actually more birds. It made more than our day but is this normal? I have never seen so many and never seen them so close to me when swarming.