Birdwatch: golden plovers flash across the winter sky

The plumage of these beautiful waders spangles in the icy late afternoon lightA light fall of snow, and our little world is transformed. The birds are, too: their colours somehow heightened by the icy white backdrop.Rosie the red-fox labrador and I take a walk around "the loop", the three-mile circuit behind our Somerset home. A slender grey wagtail bobs on the edge of a steep-sided rhyne, its lemon and grey plumage reflected in the murky water. We come across a standoff between a plump cock stonechat and an equally fat robin, each laying claim to the same length of hedgerow. From time to time, a snipe flies up, hurtling away into the distance; while two skylarks call tentatively, a hint of spring to come. Continue reading...