This weekend saw the end of the famous illuminations and the end of the season for Blackpool hotels and landladies, but holiday makers were given an extra treat on Saturday at dusk when hundreds of starlings took part in their own show at the end of the North Pier. The starlings began to fly in synchronicity creating what seems to the eye to be a black cloud that randomly changes direction and form. Experts say the synchroronised movement, also known as a murmuration, is aimed at helping the birds find food and creating a defence mechanism against birds of prey which usually try to hunt individual birds and rarely attack big flocks. After the show the starlings settled under the famous pier for a good night’s sleep.