For a long time now I have wanted to record some photos of Starlings. I see them in and around my garden all the time and hear their raucous but also tuneful songs amidst all the other birds who frequent our neighbourhood.
I often watch them from the kitchen window as they bob along in an almost military strut pecking for tasty morsels in our grass. There are times when their feathers look unkempt and others when they appear to use a lot of grooming “product”. But they also have beautiful iridescent colours and delightful white speckles as part of their plumage.
I had tossed out some food scraps earlier in the week and these had drawn the sparrows, the occasional finches and some starlings. Later in the afternoon several starlings had arranged themselves on our boundary fence and my luck was in.
One of my real enjoyments as the day begins to draw to its end, is to watch the flocks of starlings flying at speed to their nightly roosting places. It is quite magnificent and if I am outside the sudden sound of the whirr of their collective wings is dramatic but fleeting. A photograph of this has eluded me to date. But I like a challenge.
That’s a great picture! You’ve definitely got a knack for photographing birds!
Thanks! I love the birds and trying to get satisfying photos of them.
Do you think there could be a yarn that could replicate the black/iridescence and white speckles of the starling’s feathers? It could be a great yarn colourway for men’s socks perhaps??
My thumb joints played up through the winter so my knitting has been on hold :-(( I’m going to pick up the needles again now it is warmer.
I think that Doe Arnot could possibly be able to dye something like that for you in her sparkling sock base. It could be tricky to dye given the blackness of the colour and trying to keep the white bits clear of dye, but if it can be done, it would look amazing.