My move closer to the seaside is already paying off with more and different bird sightings. Meet large, the Common redshank (Tringa totanus); medium, the Turnstone (Arenaria interpres); and small, the Rock pipit (Anthus petrosus). (Apologies for the poor images – it’s been a very grey week in Cardiff!)

As they enjoy very similar diets of insects, crustaceans and molluscs, these birds were all foraging together, hipping and hopping, stalking and walking, stumbling and grumbling their way along the water’s edge of the artificial stony seawall where the River Ely now flows into the equally artificial Cardiff Bay. Though some of these birds may be residents, many also come from foreign parts to over-winter in Britain: up to half the winter population of Redshanks comes from Iceland; Turnstones can come from such countries as Canada and Greenland; and some Rock pipits come from Norway. I guess the British winters aren’t so bad after all.