Spectacular starlings fill the winter skies

More than a million birds can fly together

BIRDS SKY VIEW: This amazing photograph was taken at Cotswold Water Park by Robert Bewley. The park is asking members of the public to send other views of this phenomenon to post on its website,  www.waterpark.org or email info@waterpark.org

December 2010: People may be feeling the cold and staying indoors to keep warm, but for those who brave the elements, one great benefit of the cold winter weather is the arrival of the starling flocks with their spectacular aerial displays.

These birds create the huge flocks, sometimes more than a million flying together, on returning from foraging trips. They then settle down to roost for the evening in reedbeds.

Scientists are not entirely sure as to why the starlings put on this incredible display - called a murmuration - but suggest that it could be a method of protecting individual birds from attack by predators such as the peregrine falcon and sparrowhawks.