A Little Momentum

Although my blog has been quiet over the last few months I have been extremely busy researching and looking at starlings, a pastime that some of you may find questionable but last years Somerset Art Weeks made me realise that there is a huge fascination with these birds which, at the time, I didn’t quite understand but I felt I should look more closely into.

With my usual initial enthusiasum I spent most of last Christmas rising well before dawn to watch the morning murmurations, a good tip from a birdwatcher. Luckily the Starling hotline made finding the starlings much easier that trying to guess where they would land in the evenings.

I have to admit to several failed attempts and a worrying tendancy to wonder what on earth I felt I was doing, however, the morning of 4th January saw me standing in the reed beds at Westhay experiencing the full might of several thousand starlings all whirling around me, I have to admit, in the space of half an hour I was completely hooked and amazed and have spent the last few month trying to unravel the misteries of the murmuration. Here is a small sample of one of the sound recordings (sorry about the buffering on the speaker)    

I have read many different articles and studied various papers about the murmuration and I can truly tell you that it remains as much a mystery to me now as it did when I stood in the reed beds but it has led me on a very interesting journey which I will share with you over the next couple of weeks before my exhibition for Somerset Art Weeks at Marcombe Studio