It was a moment when the sky turned black. Some described it as a scene from the end of the world.
Others feared their quiet town had been invaded by a swarm of giant locusts.
In actual fact, they were witnessing nothing more terrifying than a flock of pigeons coming in to roost, albeit a pretty large flock.
Avid bird watcher Terrence O'Dell said he couldn't believe his eyes when he opened his curtains one morning and saw the surreal spectacle.
'The sky was black and I thought maybe it meant an earthquake was going to happen,' he said.
'I would describe the sight as lie a swarm of grey locusts. I have been here 20 years and my neighbour has lived here for 50 years and neither of us has ever seen anything like it before.'
But it turns out the world isn't about to end.
Instead, a flock of pigeons has merely set up roost in Kingswinford, Staffordshire.
Experts have been left scratching their heads at the sudden infestation but believe it could be lack of food in the countryside.
Louise Pedersen from the RSPB, said that although wood pigeon numbers have increased 665 per cent in the last three decades, this amount of the birds in one place was virtually unheard of.
'Flocking at this time of the year is not uncommon – however, it is very rare that you see this number,' she said.
'One thousand is definitely a large number, some of them will be continental, probably from Europe and other parts of Scandinavia.'
Ms Pedersen said she wanted to assure people they had nothing to fear from the large flock of pigeons.
'It does look like something from a Hitchcock film but they are totally harmless,' she said.
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