Estimating
the size of bird flocks is hard enough, as British and Irish birders know when
watching a large Starling murmuration such as those at Ham Wall (Somerset),
Gretna (Dumfries and Galloway) or Nobber (Co. Meath), all of which have
featured prominently on social media in recent weeks.
So spare
a thought for Tomaž Mihelič and the other poor Slovene ornithologists of the
country’s BirdLife partner, DOPPS attempting to count a roost of Bramblings as
it develops in Beech woods along the River Sava, a feeder river of the Danube
in Central Europe. A minimum of 2 million birds, but probably as many as 5
million, have descended on an area of about 100 square kilometres, but every
night they pack into a patch of trees covering just 5 hectares, a circle about
250 metres in diameter. The exact site of the roost is not being revealed to
prevent disturbance but is drawing crowds of locals to watch each evening.
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