{"id":34424,"date":"2016-11-15T20:14:24","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T13:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/want-to-save-the-starling-keep-your-lawn-kate-bradbury\/"},"modified":"2016-11-15T20:20:21","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T13:20:21","slug":"want-to-save-the-starling-keep-your-lawn-kate-bradbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/want-to-save-the-starling-keep-your-lawn-kate-bradbury\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to save the starling? Keep your lawn | Kate Bradbury"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nWith starling numbers still tumbling, Kate Bradbury is determined to make her garden a haven for these acrobatic birdsSome of the starlings that dance around Brighton Pier at dusk spend their days on the rooftops above my garden. They whoop and whistle atop television aerials and chimney stacks, fly about a bit. Then, a couple of hours before sunset, they become noisier. They seem to call to each other, egg each other on like friends texting before a night out. Impatiently, little groups fly from TV aerial to TV aerial, one or two slowly building up to six or seven. The whistles and clicks become louder, the flights become bolder; swifter somehow, as more join and the momentum builds, as they impatiently wait to get going. Then, suddenly, they\u2019re gone – whoosh – to the Pier. Each little gang from Brighton and Hove\u2019s many rooftops and TV aerials, joining together for the big dance in the sky.If you walk along the beach before sunset you can see them on their way. Their dark bodies bounce like charged telecom wires, shadowing across seafront buildings in the fading light. On the journey of two miles or so, the starlings join together, meeting other gangs from other rooftops. Once, on my birthday, I was treated to a night in The Grand Hotel, made famous for the bombing during the Conservative Party conference in 1984; on the fifth floor our balcony was starling height, and we watched, champagne in hand, with the sun setting over The West Pier, as groups of 10 or 20 or 200 dashed to the party from all directions, calling and heckling to each other as they flew. Finally they came together in flocks of several thousand, moving through the sky in tremendous synchronised ribbons, contracting and expanding as one, a bigger more majestic being, a heartbeat pulsing above the city. If you stand on the Pier and shut out the noise of arcade games, you can hear the starlings whoosh past you, a million wings beating in symmetry like wind rustling the trees. Stand close enough and you feel the stormy blast generated by their bodies on your face. They roost in the bowels of the Pier, beneath your feet. They never shut up, chatting and clicking as they rest, while their friends keep on going, refusing to let go of the night. Continue reading…
\n
\nSource : theguardian.com
\nRead more…Want to save the starling? Keep your lawn | Kate Bradbury<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With starling numbers still tumbling, Kate Bradbury is determined to make her garden a haven...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75ss1-8Xe","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28531,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/diary-of-a-wildlife-garden-the-robins-return-kate-bradbury\/","url_meta":{"origin":34424,"position":0},"title":"Diary of a wildlife garden: the robin's return | Kate Bradbury","date":"October 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r The sight of a robin lifts the heart of Kate Bradbury as she works on her new wildlife gardenIn the darkest days of January, after I had taken up the decking and dug a hole to plant my apple tree, a robin became the first visitor to my newly-made\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":149892,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/country-diary-a-tiny-wildflower-meadow-with-bespoke-bee-habitats-kate-bradbury\/","url_meta":{"origin":34424,"position":1},"title":"Country diary: A tiny wildflower meadow with bespoke bee habitats | Kate Bradbury","date":"March 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Hove, East Sussex: Last spring was a washout, but this year \u2013 after a few home improvements \u2013 my garden is buzzingI sit in my front garden, which is surely a contender for world\u2019s smallest meadow \u2013 a tiny square, rich with native grasses, primroses,\u00a0lungwort, crocuses and the last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137952,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/country-diary-five-fledgling-robins-disappear-into-the-wild-kate-bradbury\/","url_meta":{"origin":34424,"position":2},"title":"Country diary: Five fledgling robins disappear into the wild | Kate Bradbury","date":"June 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Hove, East Sussex: Life is tough here for garden birds, even making it to the outside world is no mean featThere are few songbirds in my neighbourhood, thanks to a deadly cocktail of plastic and paving, climate change and high numbers of predators. There\u2019s little natural food, but adaptable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24699,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/when-gardens-are-razed-and-paved-house-sparrows-suffer\/","url_meta":{"origin":34424,"position":3},"title":"When gardens are razed and paved, house sparrows suffer","date":"September 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Kate Bradbury spent 18 months turning her back garden into a wildlife haven, but the loss of a buddleia bush in next door\u2019s plot spells trouble for the sparrowsWhere have all the sparrows gone?It\u2019s quiet in the garden today. Normally the air is filled with the sound of chirruping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27933,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/brighton-pier-owners-swing-back-to-profit\/","url_meta":{"origin":34424,"position":4},"title":"Brighton Pier owners swing back to profit","date":"September 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r \r Source : telegraph.co.uk\r Read more...Brighton Pier owners swing back to profit","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10254,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/brighton-pier-to-be-sold-for-18m\/","url_meta":{"origin":34424,"position":5},"title":"Brighton Pier to be sold for \u00a318m","date":"April 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Eclectic Bar Group, chaired by entrepreneur Luke Johnson, acquiring iconic British landmark\r \r Source : ft.com\r Read more...Brighton Pier to be sold for \u00a318m","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}