In a complete change of character the daws were flying in something close to a disciplined formation. Many hundreds of them all at the same height and on the same course, for once not competing raucously with one another; wave upon wave of them all striking westward. There were some gaps when the sky was briefly empty then the waves began again with exactly the same behaviour. How do they get to agree?
Like the starling murmurations and many other wonders of the natural world perhaps we should simply treasure the mystery.
In the case of these birds the strangeness is more due to the oddness of their suddenly diverging from their regular practice of ducking, diving and challenging for the lead. Co-operation at this level seems not their style.
A chilling thought is hard to suppress. There is a strong similarity with old newsreel photos of Lancaster bombers in huge numbers heading for German towns - but then in the opposite direction over Lincoln. Perhaps this was the day to remember such things.
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