'Beautiful' murmuration forms over town centre

A starling murmuration forming over Redditch

Thousands of starlings were captured in a "beautiful" aerial display by a dog walker.

Jason Walker, from Redditch, snapped the spectacle in the town on Wednesday.

He shared several images on Facebook, writing: "Whilst walking my dog, the murmination of starlings over town centre tonight."

Murmurations form when large numbers of starlings, which are now considered rare, fly together as they wake and before they roost during colder months.

Reacting to his post on social media, one person wrote: "Beautiful! We haven’t seen starlings in our garden for many years!

Another commented: "Love seeing this.

"Used to see it all the time when I lived up town."

Starling numbers have rapidly declined since the 1970s and they are currently on the red list of endangered birds.

The birds often come together and "perform aerial acrobatics" to confuse predators and to keep warm in the colder weather, according to the RSPB.