Posted: 06/12/2012 at 11:45
Yes, we are talking about the same birds - believe me, I know all too well what starlings sound like and look like - I have had to have my roof sealed this year because I had them roosting in my loft right above my head - not a sound that you want to hear at 5am when the sun comes up. Then I had to seal up all of my bathroom vents because they got in there too. I have had exactly the same pattern this year as last year so far - several adults arrive in the Spring, bringing lots of (brown) baby starlings, the adults fly off and the babies grow up around my garden. The babies coats gradually change to be like the adults, except that their heads remain brown. They definitely all left my garden at the beginning of last winter which was a big relief to be honest, but now I am worried that I am going to have to put up with them all winter this year. According to my (also RSPB) book, they do migrate from Northern Britain in the winter. I simply can't afford to feed 60 starlings all winter and they are bullying all the other birds out of the garden, even the blackbirds. They are also covering the garden in droppings - and I mean absolutely covering. It's as bad as having 50 or 60 pigeons in a small space. I am sure that they are lovely birds from afar, and I know that their numbers are in decline, but in a small 20ft x 30ft garden, 60 starlings are a huge pest and actually quite distressing - even to a wildlife lover like me.
