A flying visit to Somerset to meet with Naturetrek colleagues took us on to the Levels on a gloomy, moisty, still day, the sort of day when the quacking and whistles of ducks fill the air with a gentle hubbub, pierced only by the squeals of Water Rails.

Flocks of Wigeons were on every pool, with a few Tufted Ducks on the deeper waters, together with a male Ring-necked Duck that has found itself on the wrong side of the Atlantic.

Two decades since I’d been there at this time of year, and there have been changes in that time, especially in the increase in Great White Egrets, and the appearance of flocks of Cattle Egrets among grazing stock – the sort of sight twenty years ago you would have had to have travelled half way to the Mediterranean to see. But one thing has not changed, the thing we were here for, at 4PM on the dot on Ham Wall, the vast murmurating flocks of Starlings flying in from every direction…

I have seen murmurations here a couple of times before but never like this. Vast amoeboid flocks whirling around, estimated this year at 2-3 million in size, the whoosh of their wings as they bank in unison, the praeternatural blanketed silence as a flock moves overhead (don’t look up!)…and almost as wonderful to hear was the evident appreciation of so many hardened Naturetrek leaders to delights on our doorstep.

One reason for such huge flocks is predator confusion, and so it proved. The Marsh Harriers were having none of it, keeping low over the reeds; similarly one could almost feel sorry for the Buzzard trying to wade its way through the melée on its way to roost. A Sparrowhawk too kept well below the radar, and only a Peregrine made any headway, though as expected the swirl of myriad wings confounded its hunting purpose and prowess.

We stayed overnight in Wells, but had only an hour the next day to see it in daylight.

Suffice to say, I was very impressed with the city, and Jude and I are already planning a return visit to explore it in more depth. The Swan Hotel was just the sort of place we love to stay. It’s just a pity there is no train station, but I guess that’s what buses are for!