Mesmerising video shows starling murmuration

This is the incredible moment thousands of starlings swoop across the sky and form a heart over the sea.

The footage, captured by Annika, 40, and Martin Connolly, 44, who run Discovery surf school in Bigbury-on-sea, Devon, shows the birds form the romantic shape during their murmuration in the sky. 

The couple said they paused their trip on Monday evening to watch the spectacle against the dying light.

The birds swoop across the sky in unison and form intricate patterns against the dying light

Annika, who runs the business with her husband said: ‘The starlings have been murmurating for the last couple of weeks.

‘The group is getting bigger, particularly on weekends. We’ve seen probably about three really fantastic sunsets, and coupling these with the amazing murmurations has been something to remember.’

Annika said it was difficult to guess how many birds were in the group but estimated it to be thousands of starlings.

She said that the shifting shape of the murmuration was due to larger birds, which she believed to be sparrow hawks, hunting amongst the group.

The birds fly across the sky  in Bigbury-on-sea, Devon, and form incredible patterns in the sky 

The birds fly across the sky in a phenomenon called murmuration that sees hundreds or thousands of starlings fly together in the sky

Annika continued: ‘In one of the videos the group makes the shape of a heart. As we were watching the video we could see the shapes they were making, at one stage it looks like a speech bubble.

‘It was wonderful to see, it was mesmerising. We just sat there and wanted to keep watching because it’s just such a spectacle to watch.’    

Murmuration is a phenomenon that sees hundreds or thousands of starlings fly together in the sky to form coordinated patterns.