Workington, Siddick Ponds wetlands, beside big Asda
Me again.
I’m not a birder, but I like to analyse things, and I’ve been returning daily (13th to 21st Dec 2021) to watch the murmurations above Workington’s Siddick Ponds, beside the big Asda, and I can describe the pattern of behaviour.
Temperatures are still mild at 4C to 7C at sunset. The first flocks start arriving 5-15 mins before the 15:48 sunset, and the murmurations tend to perform at the north end of the wetlands, and above the bright car showroom on the retail park.
At sunset + c.5 mins, the flocks start landing in the reed beds on the west side. They are now chirping quite noisily, and they shuffle around, as if to find their own ‘regiment’ of family.
At sunset + c.20 mins the chirping stops briefly, then a series of successive waves ‘emigrates’ across the pond to the reed beds on the far side. As each wave takes off, the flapping is quite a distinct sound.
By sunset + c.30 mins, all the starlings are on the east side of the pond, c. 300 mts away from the footpath beside the car showroom, and they’re all chirping again. The chirping stops after another 10-20 mins.
Moving on to their dawn pattern; at ( 0832 ) sunrise less 30 mins, a lot of chirping can be heard from the far reed beds.
At sunrise – c.20 mins, the chirping is replaced by a brief silence, then a massive murmuration takes off, vortexes, and splits off in various directions.
And then 2-3 mins after that, the second and last murmuration also takes off, and after that, no starlings remain.
Thus, they’ve all gone before sunrise, and the dawn murmurations occur very quickly.
Hope that is informative; I have more details, if required.
Chatting with some regular dog walkers, they said there were far more starlings here before a cold snap 4-5 weeks ago.
MAP
In the attached map/diagram, I have marked some spots with numbers and letters.
The location is Workington, Cumbria, next to a big Asda supermarket, from whose car park it’s a mere 100 mts to the Siddick Ponds wetlands; which is surrounded by reed beds.
The left side of the map is the sea, the Solway Firth, and bottom left is where the sun sets.
1 – is a two-minute walk from the car park, to a footpath, which runs the length of the wetlands.
2 – is on a slight rise; a slight embankment, which offers good views down the length of the pond, and for watching incoming flocks race past any sunset.
3 – is also at a height of 10 metres above the wetlands, and offers commanding views, and also across the retail park, as the initial murmurations seem to occur above a car showrooms. (see attached photo of this viewpoint)
( There is no point going further north along here, as inaccessible trees hide the wetlands.)
4 – is a great spot along the footpath to watch the murmurations above, and for when the starlings land in the reed beds on the west side of the pond, just 50 metres away.
a – is the middle of the wetlands, where the murmurations start
b – is the northern end of the pond, where the murmurations head off to a few times, before repeatedly returning to the area (a) in the middle
c – this is the reed beds just 50 metres from the footpath, where the starlings will first land
d – is the east side of the pond, where the starlings ‘emigrate’ to in a series of spectacular waves, just after sunset.
And (d) is where they spend the night, and where they do their two dramatic take-off murmurations, at roughly 20 and 15 minutes before sunrise the next day.
23rd DEC 2021
here are still thousands of starlings here, a day after the shortest day, and after the last full moon of the year.
Tonight, it was gloomy, but a balmy +10C.
The attached video gives an idea of the numbers; there are too many flying flocks to be able to estimate them in the air, but they all land 50 metres away in some reeds, before they 'emigrate' en masse across the pond for the night.
This emigrating occurs for 6 - 7 minutes.
5th JAN 2022
Update to Siddick Ponds, Workington.
The murmurations decreased dramatically after 5th Jan 2022, going down from c. 3,000 starlings one night, to 1,500 the next, then 500, and now, just two or three individual birds. Same at dawn; in that there are now no more massed take-off murmurations; all I’ve seen are a couple of dozen flying around.
Temperatures are still warm, +7C dusk and dawn.
I still see flocks of 10-70 starlings when I’m driving around the fields of the Cumbrian coastal plains near Workington; so it seems as though the starlings are just not congregating each evening.
Thus, no point in anybody making a special trip out here, and the site can be downgraded.
FEB 2022
I last reported no starlings at Siddick Ponds in Workington, although I have been spotting small flocks of 20-100 at various places in the surrounding coastal fields. It seems as though they just dispersed for 2-4 weeks.
By chance, I saw yesterday's tweet from RSPB at Leighton Moss wetlands, "down the road", saying that their starlings had returned after an abscence of a few weeks, which motivated me to go to Siddick Ponds this evening.
Just as I was about to give up, a couple of flocks came in, although they didn't perform a murmuration tonight.
Maybe only c. 3,000 starlings here tonight.
One passerby was knowledgeable on the subject, and said they'd returned about a week ago.
Me again.
I’m not a birder, but I like to analyse things, and I’ve been returning daily (13th to 21st Dec 2021) to watch the murmurations above Workington’s Siddick Ponds, beside the big Asda, and I can describe the pattern of behaviour.
Temperatures are still mild at 4C to 7C at sunset. The first flocks start arriving 5-15 mins before the 15:48 sunset, and the murmurations tend to perform at the north end of the wetlands, and above the bright car showroom on the retail park.
At sunset + c.5 mins, the flocks start landing in the reed beds on the west side. They are now chirping quite noisily, and they shuffle around, as if to find their own ‘regiment’ of family.
At sunset + c.20 mins the chirping stops briefly, then a series of successive waves ‘emigrates’ across the pond to the reed beds on the far side. As each wave takes off, the flapping is quite a distinct sound.
By sunset + c.30 mins, all the starlings are on the east side of the pond, c. 300 mts away from the footpath beside the car showroom, and they’re all chirping again. The chirping stops after another 10-20 mins.
Moving on to their dawn pattern; at ( 0832 ) sunrise less 30 mins, a lot of chirping can be heard from the far reed beds.
At sunrise – c.20 mins, the chirping is replaced by a brief silence, then a massive murmuration takes off, vortexes, and splits off in various directions.
And then 2-3 mins after that, the second and last murmuration also takes off, and after that, no starlings remain.
Thus, they’ve all gone before sunrise, and the dawn murmurations occur very quickly.
Hope that is informative; I have more details, if required.
Chatting with some regular dog walkers, they said there were far more starlings here before a cold snap 4-5 weeks ago.
MAP
In the attached map/diagram, I have marked some spots with numbers and letters.
The location is Workington, Cumbria, next to a big Asda supermarket, from whose car park it’s a mere 100 mts to the Siddick Ponds wetlands; which is surrounded by reed beds.
The left side of the map is the sea, the Solway Firth, and bottom left is where the sun sets.
1 – is a two-minute walk from the car park, to a footpath, which runs the length of the wetlands.
2 – is on a slight rise; a slight embankment, which offers good views down the length of the pond, and for watching incoming flocks race past any sunset.
3 – is also at a height of 10 metres above the wetlands, and offers commanding views, and also across the retail park, as the initial murmurations seem to occur above a car showrooms. (see attached photo of this viewpoint)
( There is no point going further north along here, as inaccessible trees hide the wetlands.)
4 – is a great spot along the footpath to watch the murmurations above, and for when the starlings land in the reed beds on the west side of the pond, just 50 metres away.
a – is the middle of the wetlands, where the murmurations start
b – is the northern end of the pond, where the murmurations head off to a few times, before repeatedly returning to the area (a) in the middle
c – this is the reed beds just 50 metres from the footpath, where the starlings will first land
d – is the east side of the pond, where the starlings ‘emigrate’ to in a series of spectacular waves, just after sunset.
And (d) is where they spend the night, and where they do their two dramatic take-off murmurations, at roughly 20 and 15 minutes before sunrise the next day.
23rd DEC 2021
here are still thousands of starlings here, a day after the shortest day, and after the last full moon of the year.
Tonight, it was gloomy, but a balmy +10C.
The attached video gives an idea of the numbers; there are too many flying flocks to be able to estimate them in the air, but they all land 50 metres away in some reeds, before they 'emigrate' en masse across the pond for the night.
This emigrating occurs for 6 - 7 minutes.
5th JAN 2022
Update to Siddick Ponds, Workington.
The murmurations decreased dramatically after 5th Jan 2022, going down from c. 3,000 starlings one night, to 1,500 the next, then 500, and now, just two or three individual birds. Same at dawn; in that there are now no more massed take-off murmurations; all I’ve seen are a couple of dozen flying around.
Temperatures are still warm, +7C dusk and dawn.
I still see flocks of 10-70 starlings when I’m driving around the fields of the Cumbrian coastal plains near Workington; so it seems as though the starlings are just not congregating each evening.
Thus, no point in anybody making a special trip out here, and the site can be downgraded.
FEB 2022
I last reported no starlings at Siddick Ponds in Workington, although I have been spotting small flocks of 20-100 at various places in the surrounding coastal fields. It seems as though they just dispersed for 2-4 weeks.
By chance, I saw yesterday's tweet from RSPB at Leighton Moss wetlands, "down the road", saying that their starlings had returned after an abscence of a few weeks, which motivated me to go to Siddick Ponds this evening.
Just as I was about to give up, a couple of flocks came in, although they didn't perform a murmuration tonight.
Maybe only c. 3,000 starlings here tonight.
One passerby was knowledgeable on the subject, and said they'd returned about a week ago.