There hasn’t been a lot of Turnstone activity around Cardiff Bay this winter, perhaps because the milder weather has allowed them to forage and rest in more exposed locations, so it was delightful to see a flock of 13 birds on the River Ely embankment on Thursday. Several were showing signs of the colour changes, those splodges of rusty red that come as they moult into their breeding plumage.

Judging by previous years, these superb little waders will be heading north to their breeding sites in the next few weeks and I won’t see them again until sometime in August, when they and their fledged youngsters will return to our shores.