What intrigues me now is a journey to understanding the mechanism by which we find these transient, ethereal shapes compelling. I have no control over the shapes the starlings present to me, and although I select those with aesthetic beauty, the birds continue to provide time and again.
I find my eye drawn to patterns and repeated shapes in these images. The human brain is hardwired to seek out these forms because they enable us to process information efficiently and understand a world that can seem uncertain and chaotic. This sense of order suggests that there are underlying principles governing the complexity around us.
I cannot help but draw a comparison to other patterns that are abundant in nature. Fractal patterns such as ferns and snowflakes; the logarithmic spirals of shells; and the vortices formed in liquids and gases. From simplicity, nature creates intricate, detailed, and beautiful patterns.
So too, in the paths drawn by the starlings’ twists, spirals and bursts there is a rhythm; an imperfect repetition in the complexity, arising from the simplicity of their interactions. Nature has great ability as a problem solver, while at the same time, with no plan to do so, never fails to bring about something quite exquisite.
Cascade. The starlings appear to pour off the cables, as if they are a liquid.Fireworks. Anticipating how the flock would react was crucial to framing the action. Each image is the result of hundreds of hours of observation and filming the birds. Only on processing my footage did I find that I had captured a few intense moments where the birds of prey caused the starlings to scatter.Scribbles. Each bird mimics the flight path of its closest neighbours, creating repeating patterns within the flock.Untitled 1. The starlings assemble in communal roosts that range in size from a few thousand to over a million birds.Untitled 2. Battling strong winds, the birds fight to retain a cohesive form, creating loops, twists and spirals in the sky.Avalanche. Thousands of noisy chattering starlings gathered on the pylons as dusk approached, awaiting the critical moment the movement begins. The mass of individuals becomes self-organised and appears to move as one. The mathematics that describes the split second where thousands of individuals seem to act as a single entity is known as “criticality”. The very same science is behind how avalanches form.
Untitled 3. Shaped like the edge of a feather, starling flight paths reveal the order and cohesiveness of murmurations.Turbulence. The birds are tossed around by strong winds and driving rain and fight to stay within the safety of the group as they head toward the roost.Dementor; An evil and fearsome creature. The entire flock turns suddenly, the leading birds having spotted a peregrine falcon in their path. Creating such dramatic and foreboding patterns in the sky, it is little wonder that this natural phenomenon was once interpreted as messages from the spirit world.
