Young starlings waiting for their mum to feed them in Foolow

The starling has got a reputation in the Peak District for being one of the noisiest and most gregarious of garden birds. Smaller than blackbirds, with a short tail, pointed head and triangular wings, they look black from a distance, but there is a lot more to them than one colour we can assure you. On close inspection they are truly stunning, having very glossy feathers, with a sheen of iridescent purples and greens and when the sun shines on their plumage they look like they have a rainbow of different colours from green to purple, all over their bodies.

Starling feeding its young near Eyam

In the air their flight is very fast and direct, and they seem to know exactly where they are going when they take off, shooting like bullets in the sky to reach their destination, on a very short timescale it seems. When they are on the ground they walk and run confidently, mainly because they are usually part of a very large noisy gang. They spend a lot of the year in flocks and are one of the commonest of our Peak District garden birds.

Bemused sparrows look on as youngg starling cries out for mum near Foolow

They are conspicuous and widespread throughout the whole of the UK apart from the highest parts of the Scottish Highlands. They favour warmer areas such as urban plots and quiet Peak District villages but thinly distributed in upland areas that have moorland .They are most abundant in southern England, mainly due to the warmer climate and huge roosts are found in plantations, reed beds and city centres.

4 beautiful starlings awaiting lunch near Eyam

The best time to see them is Autumn when large numbers arrive in their thousands to spend the winter here. Dark clouds begin to form in the sky above fields, woodlands and reed beds, but these aren’t ordinary clouds. These clouds are one of the most incredible wildlife spectacles in the UK, as hundreds of thousands of starlings form a fantastic acrobatic mass, coming together in huge clouds, wheeling, turning and swooping in unison. It really is a jawdropping vision known as a ‘murmuration.’

Early evening, just before dusk, is the best time to see them as they perform their aerial dance and choose their communal night time shelter altogether. They roost in places which are sheltered from harsh weather and predators and tend to roost in woodlands, reed beds, cliffs, buildings and industrial structures are also used. During the day, they form daytime roosts at exposed places such as treetops where the birds have good all-round visibility. Autumn roosts begin to form in November, though this varies from site to site and some can begin even as early as September. Numbers are smallish at first but more and more birds will flock together as the weeks go on and the number of starlings in one roost can swell to around 100,000 in some places.

Hungry Starling looking for food near Abney

Starlings join forces for a lot of reasons, mainly because it is safety in numbers and predators such as peregrine falcons find it very hard to target one bird and catch one in a mass of thousands. They gather to keep warm at night and exchange information, chattering and tweeting to each other as one. If only we can understand what they are saying to each other – they must have fascinating tales to tell, but they certainly aren’t quiet about it, that’s for sure!

They often feed miles away from where they roost, sometimes even 20 miles away but they return to the same roosting site at around the same time each evening like clockwork. This is when the sky takes on an ominous black and its mesmerising to watch a starling flock grow and grow. The noise is cacophonous and even when they settle, they are still quite vocal and noise levels increase again towards dawn when the birds leave in waves.

Scrapping starlings near Foolow

Mainly dining out on insects and fruit, the babies are fed entirely on insects and their larvae, spiders and earthworms. They are common visitors to gardens, nesting in holes and cavities, especially in trees but often using holes in buildings, including occupied houses and nest boxes. They don’t establish and defend a proper territory like blackbirds, but really only look out for the immediate area around the nesting cavity where they lay their eggs.

Starling feeding its you – this photo was featured on Springwatch and won best picture !

To attract a mate, the male builds the base of the nest from dry grass and leaves and sings its heart out from perches close to the nest entrance. The female completes the nest and makes a wonderful cup shaped lining it with fine grasses, moss and feathers. They usually lay between 4 to 6 eggs in mid April and all birds within the colony start to lay eggs within a few days of each other. The female does the majority of incubation and the chicks hatch 12 days later with only the female brooding the chicks, even though both parents feed them.

The young fledge when they are about three weeks old and are fed for a week or two until they are independent. Because the nests are usually made in such clever places, hidden inside buildings or in holes, they are protected from predators and many other dangers and as a result. Usually over 70% of eggs laid produced successfully fledged babies. Young starlings, when they leave the nest, are brown all over at first, until they grow into their glorious colours. Normally, only one brood is raised in the year, but if the first clutch is laid early and is successful, the second clutch may follow.

Young baby starling look on at angry sparrow

All birds change their feathers every so often and they get torn and worn out, so to keep looking good, clean, and warm and to stay airborne, the starling needs to replace its feathers and this is called a ‘mouting’. Because of the different coloured feathers they grow, it really easy to spot a moulting starling as their heads are brown and not the glossy iridescent colours and trademark white spots of the rest of the body. Starlings need to be able to fly at all times so moulting is a gradual process and you might see  brown starlings with odd looking black patches on their bellies.

The success of the starling is closely linked to human beings and by us converting the landscape and changing habitats, such as woodland into open  farmland, and erecting buildings, people have provided starlings with an abundance of food nest sites. Because they eat such a large number of invertebrates, flocks of starlings are welcome with farmers throughout Derbyshire, for eating all their crop pests.

Fantastic colours sparkle in the spring sunshine

Starlings may not be in such huge numbers with us here in the Peak District as they are in Somerset, Lancashire and Suffolk, but we certainly get our own fair share. They are so common in our gardens; perhaps we are guilty of taking them for granted? Why not study them, the next time one, or a few,  lands in your garden and watch how their feathers shine in the sunlight. Open the window and listen to them singing their hearts out to their Juliet’s, or maybe they are simply all having a good gossip, who knows, but perhaps we can all see starlings in a different light from now on?