Birds

Certainly makes a change from shivering to death on some bleak estuary in winter looking at dull little waders disguised as distant specs. Three Dunlin complete in splendid summer plumage were feeding in 22C and bright sunshine on a pool at Windmill Farm Nature Reserve on the Lizard in Cornwall earlier this week.

Insight: The British Isles is an internationally important winter refuge for millions of wading birds that fly south from their summer breeding grounds high in the Arctic Circle. Not all of our wading birds leave the country at the end of winter with a few remaining to breed on upland moors and nature reserves.

The summer plumage of most waders is far more colouful than the dull grey patterns we see in the UK during the winter.