Today has been a glorious day - really cold and really sunny. We took Nigel's mom out for her birthday and bought her new shoes and had a meal and then- ont he way home - I suggested we go and see if we could see the amazing starlings over Studland. We parked up by the ferry as the sun started to set.
The views of the sunset were wonderful - even before nature's other brilliant display.
Did I mention I love my home town!!!
Then the starlings started to form. I took this from the RSPB site as it explains what we saw far better than I ever could
Well over 10,000 birds start to gatherand the flock soon grows big enough to perform all the mesmerising dances, or murmurations, for which starlings are renowned. The smoke-like shapes stretch and twist and fold back on themselves with endless variation. Sometimes the cloud splits into two and then silently reforms again into one swirling, swooping, intricate mass behaving like a huge single entity. Through binoculars the flock becomes a miasma of darting shapes, impossible to follow individually, moving very fast within the slow moving whole, dancing like individual pixels in a digital picture.
After about twenty minutes the birds all dive for cover and in seconds are gone, leaving only a fading shadow on the memory to prove that they were really there.
I had seen a murmuration before - though not this good - but Nigel hadn't and we were mesmerised. There were times it would vanish completely and then it would be thick black like smoke and swirl and split and reform and drift in waves.
I didn't have my camera just my phone so no great photos - though I did get some video. You can see them in the distance behind the ferry ... trust me it was so impressive to see in reality - looked much better than the faint black smudge the camera caught. It was 2 degrees but I stood and watched for half an hour until I could no longer feel my hands or feet.
This is a photo from the RSPB site which shows what they were like in reality
Then we drove round the harbour and home - yet more gorgeous views of the sunset over Brownsea Island and the harbour
News of new collections too today.
It is Pickle Barrel day at Pickleberrypop and a chance to snag those 6 pack bargains - lush colours this month too.
The first collection I worked with was by Eudora Designs and a template set by Miss Mel
and this is what I created
It is a little baby Emily.
Dawn also has a selection of 4 products on massive half price sale for today only and you can find them at her store and all of them are showcased here; organic papers, painted masks, messy stitches and gesso
Today I am thankful for
- nature's beauty all around us
- my home town
- glorious winter days
- pampered feet (first thing treatment this morning)