One of the reasons Bridgwater Bay is a National Nature Reserve is the Shelduck.

Due to the extreme tidal range of the bay, at low tide enormous areas of mudflats are exposed and these are teeming with the tiny creatures that Shelducks – and many other species of waterfowl and wading birds – like to eat.

According to the UK Government website, this reserve is ‘the second largest European moulting ground for Shelduck, with up to 2000 birds present each July’, and rather a lot were still there last Sunday (6 October) when I visited with my birding buddies from Glamorgan Bird Club.

In fact, I’ve never seen so many Shelducks in my life before. Two thousand almost seems to be an underestimate!