Something weird happened last Sunday afternoon in Somerset. More than 100 starlings fell out of the sky and landed dead and dying into Julie Knight's front garden. Every bird had blood oozing from its beak and curled up claws. About 70 were dead when they hit the ground but some were still flapping until the RSPCA put them out of their misery.
Experts have no idea what happened, there are lots of theories, but none that make any sense. Their best bet is that the flock was chased by a bird of prey and hit the ground as they changed direction. But a neighbour said they were dead or dying before they hit the ground.
Lady Scott from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said 'This is one of the oddest things I've ever heard about, we've certainly never come across anything similar. Post mortems carried out on the starling proved inconclusive. They were all found to have physical injuries with most suffering either broken wings or a shattered beak but no underlying health problems or toxins were found which could explain their sudden deaths.
An RSPCA spokesman said the incident still remains a mystery.
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