Photo Feature: Starling Flock Flies in Formation, Spends Evening Spelling Swearwords

Anoraks and ornithologists alike were last week amazed by an incredible display of natural synchronised beauty. A flock of nearly seventeen thousand starlings (a species known for their displays of co-ordinated aerobatics) was spotted over Loch Ness, in Scotland.  The daring aerial display lasted more than half an hour before they started spelling rude things.

Instances like these are known as murmurations by specialists, though many note that this kind of novel murmuration is unprecedented. They are often made up of more than one species of starling, and sometimes from more than one family of bird.  This reflects their roosting habits.

The most elaborate manoeuvre involved an entire sentence, which read “eat shit, dickheads.”

Observers are agreed that all the birds present must have been very naughty.