Starlings in survival fight

PEOPLE DON’T like starlings. They are noisy, aggressive and greedy. Their nests, often in the roofs of houses, are a total mess and they gobble up everything on the bird table, leaving nothing for the smaller birds.

I open a mist net in my garden most mornings and starlings are among the birds most frequently caught. Each autumn, starling families range over a wide area and invading my garden. The babies aren’t streetwise and occasionally, an entire family is caught.

Starlings are interesting birds to ring. They are resourceful, opportunistic and some of them travel huge distances. Their social behaviour too is interesting. In late summer, for example, young starlings gather into juvenile-only flocks, easily recognised because the birds are brown rather than black and lack the white spots which give starlings their name. Just why they form these locks is unclear. Perhaps youngsters have special food requirements, which differ from those of adults.