'Being pooed on during starling murmuration was a gift'

A woman received "a gift" while filming an eye-catching starling murmuration, when a bird pooed on her.

Lizzie Golding, who filmed the aerial display near Blackwell, in Derbyshire, last week, can be heard in the footage saying an expletive and "thanks".

She said: "I got a gift, one of them pooed on my shoulder. Hopefully it'll bring me some luck.

"Wow. I feel privileged to see it."

Conservation officer for Waingroves Community Woodland Trust Shaun Walters, who filmed a murmuration in the same location on Monday, said: "It's best not to stand too close to the actual roost site unless you have an umbrella to protect you from falling poo."

Murmurations make it more difficult for predators to target one bird in the middle of a hypnotising flock of thousands, according to the RSPB.

Video journalist: Chris Waring

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