This awesome sight can be seen at this time of year on the Somerset Levels at dusk. This year the spectacle is particularly wonderful – just like a mass of moving stitches across the sky.
During autumn, dark clouds begin to form in the sky above fields, woodlands and reed beds. But these are no ordinary clouds. They are one of the UK's most incredible wildlife spectacles.
Throughout the autumn and winter months, hundreds of thousands of starlings turn the sky black around the UK. The birds come together in huge clouds, wheeling, turning and swooping in unison.
This jaw-dropping wildlife spectacle, known as a 'murmuration' is my inspiration for a doodling stitching activity that I have challenged myself to do everyday and post on the Distant Stitch Facebook forum.
First stage was to make the stitching ground – a piece of vellum that was ‘stitched into’ with a threadless machine needle. Next stage – look out for tomorrow on Facebook www.facebook.com and search for ‘Distant Stitch’. This is a closed group, just for Distant Stitch students but anyone can take a look but not join in the conversation.
The starlings are an amazing sight. I'm looking forward to seeing how your piece develops.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photo of the starlings, and you have captured the essence of their movement with your doodle stitching. I will be interested to see how it progresses.
ReplyDeleteJane
www.texturetrail.blogspot.com
This is an amazing spectacle indeed. We have starlings here but never such a huge mass of it. This picture is also
ReplyDeletea great illustration for Module 2
As a Somerset girl I can appreciate this as the Somerset levels hold a special magic; the starlings also visit the piers in Brighton although less so since the demiose of the West Pier.
ReplyDeleteCarrie