Amy found this video this morning. It sort of reminded me of that scene in Jurassic Park (“They’re moving like birds. They DO move like birds!”) but because it’s real, it’s a little bit more magical. Although composted of individuals, the flock seems to move as a single living organism.

A two-and-a-half-year-old article in the Telegraph explains the reasons behind the flock’s swooping patterns:

It’s all about safety in numbers – none wants to be on the outside, none wants to be first to land …. Impenetrable as the flock’s movements might seem to the human eye, the underlying maths is comparatively straightforward. Each bird strives to fly as close to its neighbours as possible, instantly copying any changes in speed or direction. As a result, tiny deviations by one bird are magnified and distorted by those surrounding it, creating rippling, swirling patterns. In other words, this is a classic case of mathematical chaos