We have a lot of Starlings around at the moment, they come and mob the bird feeders and move swiftly through the grass in the garden by the house, looking for insects. We enjoy the swooping mini-murmurations of the Starlings in the evening as they come in to roost on the wires beyond the cattle shed, and the constant taking off and landing further along, further away, until finally they go and we don’t see them again.
The weather on Sunday was fantastic for the laundry. We dry nearly all our laundry outside – even in a wet summer, it is amazing how much drying can be done outside, but Sunday was hot and very windy, so washing was drying in record time. The last load was on the washing green beside the recycling shed, which just so happens to be underneath an electricity wire.. suffice it to say, once the flock of starlings had done their taking off and landing, and taking off again, that last load of sheets needed to be laundered again…
Last night, Farmer was putting the wedder (male) lambs he is selling into the cattle shed, to keep them dry and safe overnight, and I went with him to help count them to confirm the numbers. The evening light was lovely when we finished and walked back along the track past the Studio. The Starlings were congregating at the Studio, and as we slowly walked towards them they took off with an audible whoosh of the wings.
They murmured over Shian and Duill,
flew like fishes,
and collectively started to swoop down to the wires,
so quickly, making such great landing shapes against the sky,
landing, stopping, quiet. For a minute or two.
We walked away and they stopped still.
A beautiful encounter at the end of a day.
