Country diary: Predator or prey? The electric redshank is both in equal measure | Mark Cocker

Spurn Point, Humberside: Alarm tends to be their default position, but watching them at work on the rain-soaked turf reveals their ruthless streakRain fell all day and black cloud turned our world prematurely dark as we walked to the hide at Kilnsea Wetland. The field in front was a temporary lake and seemed almost devoid of colour, yet at odds with all this winter dullness were 150 redshanks feeding in extraordinary fashion along the shallows.Redshanks' size and shape occupy a midpoint between those of the much bigger curlew and smaller dunlin. When close like this, you see how a redshank is elaborately patterned, the back and wings with refined black laddering along each feather margin, while the throat and chest are intricately barred. Continue reading...