Hi everyone it's Liam here from the Shove Wildlife and in today's video I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about Starlings. Let's get started. Common Starlings are noisy and gougarious and the familiar sight across the UK. They are found in towns and cities but also in the countryside and along the coast. They are slightly smaller than a blackbird and have a short, stumpy looking tail. From a distance Starlings look black but on close inspection you'll see that their feathers are actually an iridescent purple and green. During the spring and summer the tip of their beak is yellow and this is also the time when it's easiest to separate the males from the females. At the base of the beak males are grayish blue whilst the females are a faded pink color. Young Starlings are a similar shape and size but are brown all over. Starlings are very adept at mimicking the noises that they hear and can produce an almost electronic sounding call of random clicks and whistles. Starlings will eat fruit and berries but their main diet is invertebrates. They spend a lot of their time searching through grassy patches looking for insects, worms and spiders. They're also rather fond of the meal worms that some people put out to feed the birds. Starlings begin to nest in April with several pairs nesting near to each other in cavities, nest boxes, hollow trees or other suitable sized holes. The male starts the construction, creating a basic nest of twigs and then the female finishes it with grasses, feathers and moss. Each female will then lay between four and six blue colored eggs and then incubate them without much help from the males for around 12 days. The chicks then spend the further three weeks in the nest being fed by both parents. Once they have left the nest the young Starlings are very observant and follow their parents around learning how to find their own food. After two or three weeks more they'll be fully independent. Throughout most of the year Starlings live in small flocks but during the autumn and winter they can gather in very large groups to roost community. Just before they settle for the night these flocks perform aerial displays twisting and turning in unison across the evening sky. This is known as a murmuration and is one of nature's great spectacles. Despite these mass gatherings Starling numbers have dropped significantly in the UK since the 1970s. They're currently around 1.8 million remaining here but this represents a decline of around 66% and so far nobody really knows why. The average life expectancy for a Starling is two to three years but once one was found that was 22 years and 11 months old. Well there we go that's everything you need to know about Starlings. If you can think of anything I should have included and haven't let me know in the comments down below and if you liked this video then check out one of his other two British wildlife videos. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.