Country diary: Winter's starling flocks give the illusion of abundance

West Dartmoor: Their presence is strong right now in the skies, the muddy fields and my garden, charismatic in their swaggerIs this what our skies once looked like year-round? The pale grey above my west Dartmoor home is busy with birds. Winter is a season of coming together - a time when many bird species gather in flocks to feed and roost. Few do so with such enthusiasm as starlings, and the sky where I live, so often a blank canvas, is fretted with their shifting silhouettes.A few are attracted to birdseed in my garden, swaggering confidently up the lawn, dark winter plumage freckled with constellations of white. For such social birds they are quarrelsome - bickering over the food, strident voices jangling like keys in a blender. Continue reading...