A Co Clare photographer who captured a starling murmuration over recent days has said he was “very lucky”.
Brian Arthur, who took the photograph that featured on the front page of Thursday’s Irish Times, said it was his first time witnessing the group of birds taking flight near the village of Fedamore in Co Limerick.
Mr Arthur, a photographer for 20 years, said “after a few years of talking about going and trying to see it, I saw it on my first time”.
“I know a photographer from the area, he had been down there and told me about it so I took a spin down the other day.
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“I pulled up at the side of the road and he met me and told me I’d have to go through the field. I didn’t have any boots or anything – he got me a pair of boots out of his car and we walked through a farmer’s field that he has access to.
“Then it literally happened right in front of us. It was my first time seeing it.”
Mr Arthur took the picture at around 5.30pm on Tuesday, as the sun was setting, with the birds in flight for around 15 minutes.
He said he plans to go back to the site to see them again over the coming days and will be hoping for dry weather and clear skies.
“They’ll be gone in the next two to three weeks,” he added. “When it gets cold you get a clear sky, so hopefully you get nice skies to show the silhouette and shapes of the birds.”
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