Exquisite !

Great colours, the sky looks like sand !

Fantastic Dave, great timing.... CJ

Ureal looks like in a dream, just fantastic
/Micke

Beautifully clean & simple image with appealing colours. Wonderful.

I like the tension between the static of the piers, the softness of the tones and the movement of the birds...the overall feel is superb !!

They were quite something to watch, the sheer numbers alone were impressive. I tried to get a flock shot from closer up but ended up with poo on my arm :) ...Really like the orange backdrop, though it's driving me crazy trying to work out how you did it.

Oh I like this. I like those very soft pastel shades but of course the magnificence that is nature. I don't know but it seems almost Renaissance period in tones.

very nice ambiance, color tone and great composition .. I actually like it like that at 1/30.

That is simply beautiful.

I agree with you on the 1/30 sec. It's just a LITTLE too slow, I thihnk. But what about the sky? How natural is that color? I've definitely seen skies like that before ... with almost no blue ... but not very often!

This is beautiful! The colours and composition are very good (the thumbnail looked almost like an old pen drawing), and the birds look like a wave rolling over the pier, instead of the usuals under the pier.

AWESOME!

I guess that's what we call a million-dollar-shot!

I disagree with some of the other opinions here, I think the shot itself is good, but the tone looks too artificial to suit me.

wonderful color tone.

Indeed they must have been uite amazing to watch. Nice shot. I like how they are flying only in an invisible corridor, noone is going out of that.

The little swirl of the flock around the buildings is cool; gives the birds a feel like they're moving in a wavelike motion. The unusual tone helps highlight the dark birds.

this is really a beautiful place!

this is beautiful! i love watching these live formations transform

very cute and eastern look! i like the color tone!

I like it. Simple. Sweet. No obvious huge postprocessing. Lovely. And yes, I prefer the slower shutterspeed as opposed to something faster. Can see them better that way.

Wow. That is an excellent shot and capture!

Spectacular moment captured. It might look great in black and white too?

Colour, place, moment, - all perfect for my eyes. But were there really no birds under the pier?

sublime tout simplement, de grands moments qu'il est agréable de voir

That is one beautiful shot. Would love to see the original before processing though!

So nice... the birds. Very well composed and tones!

Fantastic - the break obviously did you good ;-)

I like the tone and the composition of this photo, I'd however prefer the image to have a horizontal perspective correction - the line of the sea and the bridge, that is going up from left to right is somehow distractive...

like the simplicity and feeling of motion of the birds. Less keen on the tone - pink water doesn't do it for me!

Great work but check this out!
That's quite amazing.
Click on the URL to view more starlings.

Absolutely beautiful.

Great shot David - love the sepia like tones or ? desaturated look. . .has this been tweaked in photoshop?
Piers do make amazing subjects.
I think the shutter speed is about right - would have been interesting to see what effect a slightly longer time would have had. . .

Fantastic shot... love the tone and the birds make the picture extra interesting.

Great shot! The color really adds a lot to the photo, also.

great shot !!

It will take a while to clone that lot out David ;-) Beautiful image, fantastic toning and such simple composition. Mal

Very nice; they're so uniform they almost look artificial.

This is awesome. Such a great capture... I like the lines especially the line which use the birds to fly away!!!

Simply stunning. One of my favourites!

WOW!

Look at them go!

Great colouring here on this image as well Dave.

Thanks everyone.

Myrddin: the sky is partially natural; i.e. it's been pushed in a direction that's sympathetic to the original scene.

Roy: no, nope a single one. There was a distant figure, that I cloned out, but no birds.

Finwe: the image was rotated to correct the horizon, the pier itself isn't entirely horizonal.

Jerooen: thanks for the link, they're great shots.

Steve: it was process in LAB color mode and I'm still not sufficiently familiar with it to be able to describe exactly what was done. When I do get my head around it I'll describe it in more detail.

Wow. Very nice. One of the best shots I have seen for month.

This picture is brilliant. I love the action. I prefer it with the white background.

I can only agree with the above comments. AMAZING!

I think this one's probably as good as yesterdays, but for different reasons.

you have inspired me to pick this up. thanks

Your photos show a different side of the area I live in, and it makes me proud to live here - thank you!

Put simply, I like this shot. Whether or not the color is natural, I don't care. I think one is entitled to take artistic license with the production of images; the restrictions of the purist are not for me. In my humble opinion, photography should not be forced into a mold of conformity and 'expected' rules . There should be freedom. No offense meant to those who choose to pursue their love of photography in their preferred way.