VIDEO: Beautiful starling murmurations in Eastbourne

A murmuration is when thousands of birds all swoop and dive in unison, creating amazing shapes in the sky.

They group together because it offers safety in numbers – predators find it hard to target one bird in the middle of a flock of thousands. They also gather to keep warm at night and to exchange information, such as good feeding areas. The group gathers over their roosting site, and perform their stunts before settling down for the night. A good roosting site is somewhere sheltered from harsh weather an predators, such as Eastbourne Pier.

The number of starlings in a roost can build up to around 100,000 in some places. Early evening, just before dusk, is the best time to see them across the UK. During the day they form daytime roosts at exposed places such as treetops, where the birds have good all-round visibility.

If you have any videos/photos or murmurations, or any other beautiful shots of Eastbourne, please send them to [email protected] for future pieces.

Find out more about murmurations

Pier footage from @chalkhorsemusic

Seafront footage from @Ray12d