Fact Check: Don't be fooled by fake video showing 'starling murmuration' in London
Claim:
A video authentically showed a starling murmuration near Big Ben in London on May 27, 2025.
Rating:
In late May 2025, a video (reported) circulated online purportedly showing a starling murmuration — a spectacle where starlings gather in the thousands at dusk and collectively fly in shape-shifting patterns — near Big Ben in London, England.
The post featuring the footage, which had more than 147,000 views at the time of this writing, claimed the display took place on May 27.
The clip also appeared elsewhere (archived) on X (archived) and on (archived) Facebook (archived).
However, the video was fake. In the 10-second clip, Big Ben's clocks displayed different times, and the Palace of Westminster was also missing at least two towers. Additionally, the London Eye, which was also featured in the footage, is actually located across the River Thames and is not next to the Palace of Westminster as the video showed. The Wildlife Trusts and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), two British wildlife trusts, have both previously reported that starling murmurations happen during the winter months, not spring and summer.
The video did not carry any visible signs (such as a watermark or logo) that it was generated by artificial intelligence (AI). However, its content revealed that it was fake.
The footage depicted the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben (located in London near Westminster Bridge). However, a comparison with accurate, authentic street view imagery on Google Maps revealed that the AI generator missed several details on the palace, including at least two towers, as shown below.
(X user @InterestingSci1/Google Maps/Snopes Illustration)
The geography shown in the clip was also incorrect. The big Ferris wheel seen beside the Palace of Westminster (the London Eye) is located across the River Thames from the palace, not next to it. In the Google Maps view above, the London Eye would actually be directly to the right/east of the picture.
Additionally, the video shows Big Ben with different times on two of its clock faces. The Big Ben clock, situated on Elizabeth Tower, generally shows the same time — British Summer Time on May 27, 2025 — on all four clock faces.
It was not clear at the time of this writing who generated the starling murmuration footage and what AI engine was used. However, the X account that posted the most popular version also posted numerous other fake or misleading posts. For example, on May 30, 2025, the account posted a video (archived) of a pink volcano eruption that Snopes has previously debunked.
Regardless of the authenticity of this particular clip, starling murmurations are authentic performances that do occur in the U.K. during the winter months.
According to the RSPB, starling murmurations take place from November to February when birds from Scandinavia join the resident British starlings and raise population numbers. Murmurations can consist of thousands of birds and allow the starlings to socialize and exchange information while benefiting from safety in numbers.
'Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster Are Pictured from the London...' Getty Images, 30 July 2024, https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/big-ben-and-the-palace-of-westminster-are-pictured-from-the-news-photo/2163844640.
"Facts and Figures: Big Ben and Elizabeth Tower." UK Parliament, https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben/facts-figures/#:~:text=There%20are%C2%A04%C2%A0clock%20dials.
Starling Murmurations | The Wildlife Trusts. https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/where_to_see_starling_murmurations. Accessed 30 May 2025.
"Starling Murmurations: How to Enjoy Winter's Best Spectacle!" Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 8 Nov. 2024, https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/starlings-murmurations.
"Street View · Google Maps." Street View · Google Maps, https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5013684,-0.119901,2a,75y,249.84h,94.65t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s8JMMmfcYm63lU28uSaxHUg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-4.653051530357644%26panoid%3D8JMMmfcYm63lU28uSaxHUg%26yaw%3D249.8402299703048!7i13312!8i6656?entry=tts&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUyOC4wIPu8ASoASAFQAw%3D%3D&skid=f8c2fde4-bf68-4b85-b367-e0d11967d916. Accessed 30 May 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
WebMD
30 minutes ago
- WebMD
My Comfort Cat, Miss Macy
I have three cats. One of them is a male cat named Leo who I rescued from the Bronx in 2015 when he was not quite a kitten (despite the Facebook posting and vague photo asking if someone wanted a kitten). He is what's considered a tuxedo cat because most of his body and face have black hair with patches of white. Despite how lovely he looks, he was quite a biter and rather mean when we welcomed him into our large four bedroom co-op apartment in Brooklyn. But we tolerated him nonetheless. Then in 2018, my husband, Malcom, brought home two actual kittens, a brother and sister. From the moment we saw them, we all fell in love. As American shorthairs, their fur is a blend of grey, black, and white. We named them Milo and Macy, respectively. Their cuteness and playfulness added to the joy of our blended family (Malcolm, me, my daughter, and his three sons). Throughout the years, the male cats bullied Macy. But in 2020, she struck back and ever since then has been the queen of the house. It was around that time when something about my relationship with her changed. She seemed to know when I was not feeling well from treatment or when I was just emotionally spent from the travails of life. My favorite spot in my bedroom is a large, brown microfiber recliner that's next to the bed. It's where I relax with a blanket. Macy often comes into the room and looks intently in my eyes, jumps up on the chair, snuggles under my bosom, and loudly purrs. As I pet her, whatever is troubling me dissipates while we cuddle and often fall asleep until Malcolm comes home and fusses that she shouldn't be in our room or on the chair because of the cat hair. But, as I've explained to him, we mutually comfort each other. This is especially true now that our daughter no longer lives at home. It's just Macy and me – the only gals in the house of mostly guys. I know that it's been said that a dog is man's best friend. I would say that Macy is my best cat friend. Of course, I have many good friends and a loving family that I can speak to about my issues, but sometimes what's best said is nothing. It might sound weird because Macy cannot audibly speak to me, but her intuition is spot on. Just knowing that she's there for me no matter what has greatly contributed to my quality of life. Don't get me wrong, Leo and Milo are special to me, but I must admit that I am partial – Macy has my heart.
Miami Herald
42 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Cause of death revealed for 53-foot sea creature that washed up on Oregon beach
A 53-foot sea creature washed ashore after it was reported dead off the coast of Oregon. Now researchers know how it died. The adult male sperm whale washed ashore 12 miles north of Seaside between Del Ray and Sunset Beach, according to a June 1 Instagram post by Seaside Aquarium. The whale was spotted floating before it eventually washed ashore May 29, according to a June 3 Facebook post by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries West Coast. There were two angled and paralleled cuts across the top of the whale's head, officials said. After performing a necropsy and seeing 'trauma with several vertebrae exposed and twisted,' researchers determined the whale died because it was hit by a vessel, officials said. Sperm whales can reach lengths of 60 feet long and weigh in at over 40 tons, the Seaside Aquarium said. They are classified as an endangered species and can live up to 60 years. They feed on squid, sharks and fish, officials said. The whale will remain on the beach and decompose over time, as eagles and coyotes have the 'ability to feed on this whale for quite some time,' officials said. Seaside is about an 80-mile drive northwest of Portland.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Starmer's new bus scheme puts him on the path of failed prime ministers
Credit: Reuters, ITV Central, ITN News Northern transport schemes have become something of a panic button for prime ministers worried about falling popularity in the polls. With Sir Keir Starmer less popular than Sir Ed Davey, his Liberal Democrat counterpart, the Labour leader sent his Chancellor out to bat for him with Wednesday's announcement. Yet close watchers of politics might feel that some of the sums unveiled by Rachel Reeves, as part of what she described as 'the biggest ever investment by a British government in transport links in our city regions and the surrounding towns', are suspiciously similar to previous pledges. Those include £978 million for transport projects in the Tees Valley region, a sum previously announced in 2023 by the Tories and then placed under review by Labour after last year's general election. A similar situation holds true for the Liverpool city region, which was awarded £1.581 billion in 2023 under the city region sustainable transport settlement, after Wednesday's £1.581 billion award under Labour's newly unveiled transport for city regions funding settlements. Gareth Davies, the shadow treasury minister, said: 'Rachel Reeves is scrambling to salvage her failing economic plan after the Prime Minister has made U-turn after U-turn, punching holes in her credibility. 'She needed to do better than copying and pasting announcements made by the previous Conservative government. The country is not falling for their lies any more. Britain deserves better.' Here are some of the times in the recent past when prime ministers have reached for northern transport funding announcements to shore up their sagging popularity. Mr Brown, who succeeded Sir Tony Blair as prime minister, said he would improve public transport in Sunderland if his party won the 2010 general election. His manifesto that year also promised 'upgrades to Tyne and Wear light-rail systems' and electronic ticketing to promote 'cheap and easy' public transport across the country. It wasn't the first time Mr Brown had fallen back on promises of boosting transport spending outside London and the South East. The previous December, he opened the HS1 railway line in Kent while promising that it would become 'a blueprint for the future of high-speed rail travel in the United Kingdom'. He added, referring to the then not-yet-started project, that HS2 was going to 'make the case for a national high-speed rail network across this country'. Not long after Sir Tony handed over the premiership to Mr Brown, an act followed by a slump in the opinion polls and strong rumours of a 2008 snap election, the new prime minister was forced to deny that transport spending was skewed towards London and the South East. 'The Government has doubled expenditure on transport. It continues to move forward with its road programme, but also its rail and infrastructure programme,' Mr Brown said that year. 'And I don't think it's true to say that transport spending has been skewed to one particular area. In every part of the country, we are expanding transport according to the needs of these different areas. 'The important thing to recognise about transport is that we are investing in every part of the country.' In October 2010, the Tory-Lib Dem government announced deep public spending cuts as part of George Osborne's austerity programme, with the transport budget set for cuts of around 15 per cent. Mr Osborne spearheaded the Northern Powerhouse Rail project, a slogan that promised a lateral high-speed railway line across northern England, alongside plans for HS2 to move off the drawing board and into reality. As the 2015 general election loomed, however, David Cameron – now Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton – started adopting the familiar refrain of North-centric transport announcements in an attempt to woo voters. 'I think it is important that to reassure people in the next parliament we're going to spend three times more on other transport schemes, road and rail schemes, as we'll spend on HS2,' he told ITV News in 2014, ahead of the following year's general election. A year later, the prime minister was back out on the stump, promising in a YouTube video addressed to voters in Accrington, Lancashire: 'Today I'm here in the North West talking about how we're going to invest in our universities, in our science base, how we're going to build the roads and railways and infrastructure that we need for our future so we get a balanced recovery right across our country.' The promise may have worked: in 2015 the Conservatives secured a clear majority, meaning they could govern without their erstwhile Lib Dem coalition partners. A year after that, Mr Cameron dramatically stepped down after losing the 2016 EU membership referendum. Mr Cameron's 2016 successor was Theresa May, who felt the heat of unpopularity as early as two years into her premiership. As part of a policy intended to 'help spread growth beyond London', a total of ten city regions around the country – including Greater Manchester, Cambridge, Peterborough, Plymouth, Southampton and Sheffield, among others – were handed a total of £1.7 billion between them for transport projects. 'Our great cities and their suburbs are home to millions of people and world-beating businesses,' Mrs May said at the time. Faced with growing calls for a general election in 2019, she went on to reassure Midlands political and business leaders that the Tories were backing the full length of HS2's northern leg. She said in a letter to the Midlands Connect trade association: 'I would like to take this opportunity to assure you that the Government remains committed to delivering the whole of HS2 Phase 2, and will continue to work closely with you to ensure that the project meets your aspirations for growth and regeneration.' After Mrs May stepped down in 2019, Boris Johnson won the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election – and called a general election in the same year. Having been mayor of London, the one-time Telegraph correspondent was already firmly linked in the public imagination with transport projects – but that did not stop him from reaching for the familiar northern transport announcements when the polls were down. Mr Johnson said in an early 2020 speech: 'I want to be the prime minister who does with Northern Powerhouse Rail what we did for Crossrail in London, and today I am going to deliver on my commitment to that vision with a pledge to fund the Leeds to Manchester route.' That route has, so far, not materialised. During her 45 days in office, Liz Truss had little time to say much. Yet in the run-up to her abortive prime ministerial term, she renewed the Conservatives' pledge to build Northern Powerhouse Rail. 'Leeds is still the largest city in Europe without its own metro network and I would work to fix that. And I will get Northern Powerhouse Rail built,' she told a Tory leadership hustings in July 2022. She did not, in fact, get the train project onto the tracks during her two months in No 10. Rishi Sunak took a much bolder stance than his predecessors, being best remembered in transport circles for cancelling the northern leg of HS2 and freezing National Highways' smart motorways rollout. Yet by 2024, paving the ground for that year's general election, the Tory leader was keen to position himself as a generous benefactor for northern transport projects. 'Through reallocating HS2 funding, we're not only investing billions of pounds directly back into our smaller cities, towns and rural areas across the North and Midlands, but we are also empowering their local leaders to invest in the transport projects that matter most to their communities – this is levelling up in action,' he said in a statement that February. His government's 2023 announcement that HS2 Phase 2 funding was being redirected into various northern transport projects formed the basis of Wednesday's announcement by Rachel Reeves. Keen observers of politics watching Ms Reeves's speech could be forgiven for believing they had become trapped in the film Groundhog Day. But the refrain is so familiar from prime ministers in political hot water that it has become a predictable staple of these types of set-piece speech. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
