For anyone living in the Dublin 12 area - when I was driving along the canal the other evening I saw approx 600 Starlings doing their roost dance into a hedge off one of the roads along the canal near Crumlin.
The Starlings started at approx 200 and in the space of 5 minutes grew to approx 600 Starlings.
It was quite an amazing sight. I've never been up close to anything like it and would suggest to anyone in the area to pop over for a look from 5.10pm until 5.22pm. 5.23pm and the show's over, they've all roosted.
It was great to see the starter group of 200 circling and watch how the additional groups of Starlings kept joining the flock. Eventually, the mass started to land in a nearby hedge and in gradual groups of approx 80 Starlings, they started to 'get sucked into the hedge like a hoover' (Dempsey, 2011).
There's easy parking as the road was just after the new petrol garage on the canal and before the blue gates to the ESB?
A woman saw me looking at the Starlings and said they do this every evening and 'you should hear them in the morning!' She didn't sound best pleased.
Anyhow - go see them! It's stunning.
If you park on Parnell Ave you'll get great views.
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