Communal winter roosting is a habit common for several bird species. Starlings, corvids and pied wagtails are known for forming spectacular roosts. These gatherings are more likely if cold continental weather has driven more ‘wintering’ birds to the UK. Starlings are best known for their pre-dusk murmurations, before settling in thorny scrub, a reedbed, or the shelter of a building. 

The habit of forming a large roost, and the synchronised twists and turns of a murmuration, confuses predators. No doubt a sense of ‘safety in numbers’ affords comfort and provides information sharing opportunities. It also provides heat conservation, although starlings always keep a set distance apart, maintaining a strict pecking order. 

Smaller birds such as long-tailed tits will huddle together along a branch, with blue tits and wrens often roosting communally in a nestbox or tree cavity. I once counted 42 wrens emerging from an old ivy-covered garden shed!

The best time to witness birds flying into roost is just before sunset. Look for individuals or smaller flocks all heading in the same direction. But, for a truly incredible roosting bird experience, a Norfolk mudflat on a rising tide is the place to visit. This is when thousands of wading birds such as knot, dunlin and grey plover are forced off the mud by the incoming sea. They can gather in vast numbers at a favoured roost site. It is one of nature’s marvels to see the huddled mass of birds move and sway together like liquid. Seemingly restless in slumber, they wait for the signal that the sea has once more retreated, then, like an explosion, burst out in sudden departure.

A few of the best places to see winter roosts in Norfolk: 

NWT Hickling Broad and Marshes - raptor roost 

The viewing platform at NWT Hickling Broad, Stubb Mill is well known for the number and variety of birds spotted here. Fifty, or more, marsh harriers are often recorded. Hen harrier and merlin are commonly spotted too, and there are regular sightings of common crane. 

Cromer Pier - starling roost 

There are several large starling murmurations and roosts around the county, but they can suddenly switch location due to disturbance or predator pressure. A significant and regular site is Cromer Pier. Thousands of starlings roost on the pier stanchions. 

NWT Ranworth Broad – cormorant and gull roost

The bare, dead alder trees at the bottom end of NWT Ranworth Broad attracts a cormorant roost of several hundred birds. The gull roost, out on the open water, is an astounding spectacle. At twilight they start arriving and seem to fall like snow. Over twenty thousand gulls have been recorded.

RSPB Snettisham - wader roost 

This is probably one of the best places in the country to see a wader roost. However, timing is everything! Arrive an hour before high tide to see the huge flocks moving around the Wash. The hides provided around the lagoons allow for great views of a variety of roosting waders.