My sighting of this gorgeous bird during Saturday’s circuit of Cardiff Bay could not have been more appropriate because this is the species I wrote about in the recently released Into the Red, the British Trust for Ornithology’s publication about Britain’s red-listed birds. My piece describes how tricky it can be to distinguish the various species of confusingly brown female ducks one from the other, and tells the story of my pride in identifying for myself my very first female Scaup earlier this year.

You can still purchase a copy (or copies – they would make perfect affordable presents for the nature-lovers amongst your family and friends) of the book on the BTO website here: www.bto.org/intothered.