A woman has shared a stunning video of a starling murmuration in the sky above  Lancashire town.

In the video, taken by Karen Emanuel last week, a huge group of starling birds can be seen swooping across Carnforth, near the Canal Turn pub on Lancaster Road.

Karen told the Lancashire Telegraph that it was a “stunning sight to watch”.

Since posting the video to her social media page it has been flooded with comments.

One person said: “I saw this, I’ve got marks on my jacket to prove it. Incredible.”

Another said: “It was beautiful. The last of the sun was on them at one point too. Lovely to watch.”

“Lovely to watch but they don’t half make a mess on the car,” joked another.

According to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust (LWT), starlings tend to visit Britain during winter. The Trust describe the murmurations as a “mass aerial stunt”.

A spokesperson said: ”During the winter months, large numbers of starlings visit Britain from the continent, seeking out the relative warmth of our island climate.

“As dusk arrives, the starlings set off for their communal roost in one of the most staggering natural spectacles of all.

“Flocks arrive from all directions, gathering in the skies above their roost sites. As the numbers reach into the tens and hundreds of thousands, the ‘murmurations’, the name for a flying flock of starlings, take on incredible shapes in the sky, contracting and expanding as one flock merges into another, and taking on a life of their own; swirling back and forth in ever more complex and beautiful patterns. 

“It's basically a mass aerial stunt - thousands of birds all swooping and diving in unison. It's completely breath taking to witness.”

LWT say they ‘swoop’ for a number of potential reasons, including safety in numbers and for warmth

A spokesperson said: “We think that starlings do it for many reasons.

“Grouping together offers safety in numbers as predators such as peregrine falcons find it hard to target one bird in the middle of a hypnotising flock of thousands.

“They also gather to keep warm at night and to exchange information, such as good feeding areas.”

If you want to see a murmuration the best chance you have is to walk along a river. You may see the flocks coming in from all directions swirling and turning before they land in the reeds.

“Arrive at least half an hour before the sun goes down, or even a bit earlier, and find a good vantage point where you can see both the roost site and the sky above,” say the LWT.

“After you’ve had your fill and the last bird has dropped in to go to sleep, you can go back to that warm fire and cosy home.

“You may feel the cold, but we challenge you not to feel warm inside after a wondrous murmuration.”