Rosalind Skillen: Return of starling murmuration to Belfast shows the power of volunteer action

BELFAST'S starlings are back conducting their daily murmuration at Albert Bridge at the bottom of Ravenhill. There was an event to remark the return of this vulnerable amber-listed species earlier in the month.

The event, organised by grassroots conservation group, Wild Belfast, brought together dozens of people to watch the spectacular display of birds.

It’s been widely acknowledged that the return of thousands of starlings to the skies demonstrates how all is not lost in the path to nature recovery. We can turn things around for our wildlife. However, this takes deliberation, time, consideration, and lots of thought about the impact of development and planning in our cities. In this instance, it was the installation of new lighting, and the light pollution associated with it, that was driving starlings from their roost at Albert Bridge.

A murmuration that once numbered in the thousands, dropping down to dozens by 2021, to now return in increasing numbers a few years later, says a lot about the relationship between human activity and the natural environment. It also says a lot about our relationship with one another, and the power of grassroots action.

Notably, it wasn’t Belfast City Council or any government department that acted upon the decline of Belfast’s starlings. It was a group of environmentalists, who took it upon themselves to understand why the birds had abandoned their roost. The group in question, Wild Belfast, volunteered their time to liaise with several government agencies. Their engagement with various departments led to the Department of Infrastructure fitting blackout panels on some of the lanterns on the bridge, and some of the lighting next to the bridge being adjusted or turned off. Red filter lights were also attached to some of the lights which had been attached to the spans of the bridge at river level.

The return of the starlings to Belfast’s skies sets a hopeful tone for the year ahead, thereby posing a challenge to the much-contrasting deadpan tone of Northern Irish politics. Only a week following the community event at Albert Bridge, the deadline for forming an Executive in Northern Ireland passed, followed by swathes of strike action across the public sector.

Where some politicians chew on the empty calories of division, there are groups like Wild Belfast working towards common goals and imagining shared narratives to create something good. It raises a question for politicians: it’s not enough to be against something, what are you for? Wild Belfast showed how practical action, supercharged by a powerful emotional response (grieving a vulnerable species that may no longer exist) is what it takes to solve problems. And the crowds of people congregating by the bridge on a Saturday evening makes clear that stewardship for our environment can be the social glue binding us together. It's a care and concern underpinned by desire for people and place, yes, but also a desire to make better.

There are many insights to draw from the return of Belfast’s starlings, not least the dysfunctionality of our planning system and the importance of people asking questions to regulatory authorities, but also the power of proactive collaboration, shared wisdom and collective empathy.

We’ll need all those things and more in 2024, a year of fragile democracy, with more than half the world’s population going to the polls and the ascension of distrustful populous movements. Meanwhile, with democratic governance at stake in Northern Ireland, in order to establish a mindset shift, we first need to understand that we need one.

Rosalind Skillen is an environmental activist and writer @rosalindskillen