VILLAGERS say a “spectacular” display of about 4,000 birds in Teesdale is under threat because their roosting site is due to be cut down.
Residents of Whorlton watch in wonder every night as thousands of starlings gather in the sky, creating “beautiful” patterns above their homes. Like a scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film The Birds, they all descend in one swoop to a laurel hedge in the village centre to spend the night, before leaving at first light.
Villagers say more birds are arriving each day. But people are worried that the amazing spectacle, which has been developing for a few weeks, will come to an end because the hedges are to be cut down as part of a housing development.
Elizabeth Carrick, who lives behind the village, said: “People who haven’t seen it don’t know what they’re missing.
“It’s fantastic to see but I was very upset to hear that they are going to take the hedge out. It’s only being removed to give the new homes a better view but the starlings will not come back when that goes. The starlings will probably find somewhere less suitable, maybe on a building where they will make a mess.”
Three properties are being built on land behind the hedge. The application for the homes, submitted by landowner John Richardson in 2015, said: “At present the site is largely hidden from public view due to the extensive laurel hedging along its western boundary. It is proposed to remove this hedgerow entirely allowing to open up an area to the front of the site.”
At the time, Durham County Council supported the hedge’s removal, saying it would open up views.
Resident David Kinch, who lives opposite the roost, said: “The hedge has got to come down because of the buildings there – it’s part of the planning application.”
He said some people were asking whether the hedge should be saved but he pointed out the downside of the starlings.
“People come up to take photos but we’ve got thousands of birds and they do droppings. My back yard is full of bird muck,” he added.
Ann and Mick Woodward were among those who gathered to see the starling murmuration last week. Mrs Woodward said: “The interchanging patterns in the sky as they form one group and mingle is amazing. When they descend into the bush, it’s like someone is pouring them from the sky. It’s a stunning quirk of nature.”
The RSPB says grouping together offers safety in numbers – predators such as peregrine falcons find it hard to target one bird in the middle of a hypnotising flock of thousands. Villagers say the murmurations have appeared above the village before – notably in early 2015. Starlings are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it illegal to intentionally kill, injure or take a starling, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents.
But their roosts are not protected and landowners are within their rights to deter the roost either by scaring the birds or by cutting back the vegetation, says the RSPB.
One Whorlton resident, who asked not to be named, said: “Last time they were here, four years ago, there was only a field beside their roosting site but now the field is being developed. Yesterday evening I hear that attempts were made to move them on.
“Although like all wild birds they are protected, and cannot be shot, it appears that it is legal to try and move them on by making a lot of noise around their roosting sites. Opinion will no doubt be divided about the issue with some detesting the droppings on their cars and velux windows, others just delighted to see the beautiful murmurations.”
