Oh, the irony! On the very day media were reporting on the latest report, produced by Natural Resources Wales, about the appalling state of nature in Wales and the government’s dismal record at environmental protection and restoration, I was able to get exceedingly good views of this Water rail only because Cardiff Council workers were in the process of cutting every piece of greenery from the sides of Cardiff Castle’s moat. As with central Welsh government, so too with local government – they continually and intentionally fail to protect our natural resources.

The Water rail is normally a real skulker, preferring to stay hidden behind reeds and within clumps of vegetation but it, and every other creature that had been living alongside the moat, had either been displaced from their homes or, for the smaller species not able or quick enough to escape, killed by the strimmers, shredder, and trampling boots.