{"id":2233620,"date":"2026-11-02T12:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T09:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2233620"},"modified":"2026-11-02T12:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T09:48:07","slug":"publics-help-needed-to-solve-mystery-of-starling-murmurations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2233620","title":{"rendered":"Public’s help needed to solve mystery of starling murmurations"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/f64d\/live\/5ac2c210-d6af-11f1-ac90-f7afd947062e.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"OwenOwen Humphreys\/PA Wire<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Starling murmurations are described as some of the “most amazing spectacles” to witness and they happen just before the birds go down to roost – but the reason why they do it is still uncertain. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A decade on from a study into the behaviour, researchers at University of Gloucestershire are repeating the research and inviting the public to take part in a new, nationwide study. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lead researcher Prof Anne Goodenough said they were interested in seeing what had “changed in the past decade, particularly because starlings are a declining species”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Information on where and when displays occur, the size and duration and whether birds of prey are present, is what researchers are looking to gather. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Can you help solve the mystery of starling murmurations?<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The original study found there was an average of 30,000 birds in a murmuration, while some of the larger ones had more than 750,000 birds, with sightings from 23 countries. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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One of the central mysteries surrounding murmurations is why starlings gather in such enormous, tightly coordinated flocks before going to roost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The research from 10 years ago backed the idea that murmurations are primarily to protect them against predators such as peregrine falcons and sparrowhawks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The only way that we can complete this research is by everybody submitting records as and when they see them,” said Goodenough. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Due to “habitat change” there had been a “decrease in the population over the last 10 years and we’re interested to see what and how that might have affected starling murmuration behaviour”, she added. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"OwenOwen Humphreys\/PA Wire<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A study published in 2017 found there were on average 30,000 birds in a murmuration<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For the new study, members of the public are invited to report murmurations they see during the autumn and winter through an online survey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Prof Adam Hart, co-author of the original study, said “the great thing about this project is that almost anyone can contribute”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Simple observations from thousands of people can tell us more about this remarkable behaviour,” they added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow BBC Gloucestershire on <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>X<\/i> and <\/i>Instagram<\/i>. Send your story ideas to us on email or via <\/i>WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/ckvg69w1xg04o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/f64d\/live\/5ac2c210-d6af-11f1-ac90-f7afd947062e.jpg”] Owen Humphreys\/PA Wire Starling murmurations are described as some of the “most amazing spectacles” to witness and they happen just before the birds go down to roost – but the reason why they do it is still uncertain. A decade on from a study into the behaviour, researchers at University of Gloucestershire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2233620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2233620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2233620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2233620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2233620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}