Incredible images show a huge murmuration of starlings making their way into the UK from eastern Europe as hundreds of thousands of birds migrate west in search of food for the winter.
Every year between October and February flocks of starlings come to the UK, most have flown across the North Sea from Belgium or the Netherlands.
Ornithologists rushed to a Somerset nature reserve on Saturday to see hundreds of thousands of the starlings flying in to roost.
The birdwatchers witnessed first hand as the starlings formed eerie images in the sky.
The birds then settled down in the long reeds at Westhay Moor national nature reserve in Somerset.
Starlings fly to the UK for winter, when the population of the bird swells as they move away from harsh weather in eastern Europe.
Birds fly from Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the Baltic states, Poland and Russia and the numbers arriving vary from one winter to the next depending on the weather conditions in the continent.
The striking images made it appeared as if black clouds had formed spectacular shapes in the sky.
There are about 1.8million starlings breeding in the UK, but the population has dropped significantly and 40 million have disappeared from Europe since 1980.
Incredible images show a huge murmuration of starlings making their way into the UK from Eastern Europe as hundreds of thousands of birds migrate west in search of food for the winter
Every year between October and February flocks of starlings come to the UK, most have flown across the North Sea from Belgium or the Netherlands
This amazing site caused birdwatchers to rush to a Somerset nature reserve to see hundreds of thousands of starlings flying in to roost
Arrows show where starlings come to UK from during winter, some of the birds come from as far afield as Russia