A recent Facebook post including a beautiful footage of the murmurations over the West Pier prompted discussion as to why they have been in decline in recent years. We asked RSPB Brighton Starlings who gave us the following helpful reply.
“There are more than one possible answer to this.. Firstly the numbers coming to the U.K. have been considerably reduced over the last five or six years and hence less come to Brighton. We also know that numbers increase when a very cold weather spell hits North eastern Europe as most of the starlings frequenting the towns roosts are from Germany and Poland and eastern parts of Russia. Since the fires on the West Pier and the structure becoming more open the birds roosting there have spread out and now are seen on the Palace pier (Brighton pier for non locals) and often in quite large numbers under the Weatherspoons at the Marina.”
