Bottle-nosed dolphin

The starling murmuration this afternoon at Leighton Moss was extraordinary, a physical experience from the downbeats of tens of thousands of wings as the massive flock flew directly over-head.  Every time I thought they had settled in the reedbed, they reappeared in greater numbers than before. It's funny how often the flock fleetingly assumes the shape of a giant creature, here (slightly fancifully) a bottle-nosed dolphin.

I had good intelligence from Knottman2, who said on Saturday they went over the Sky Tower and settled to the west. So I left the crowd gathered on the different levels of the tower, and found some solitude on the way to the Grisedale Hide. I have no idea how many birds there are, and this photo perhaps shows only half of them, if that. But it looked, sounded and felt like the biggest murmuration I have experienced.

I want to add detail to this entry, I don't have time tonight, and Gus is impatient for his evening walk in the woods. So I shall probably add more text tomorrow.

On other things, there was good news on my latest blood test.  All the key blood markers are stable and in the normal range. That's me clear for another 3-4 months.