SPOONBILLS WADING BACK

Spoonbills have been spotted in both Wales and Lincolnshire this week after arriving from the southern European marshes where they are born.

The birds are so named because of their beak, which opens out into a spatula shape. Although they bred in East Anglia during medieval times, spoonbills had not bred in Britain for 300 years until 2010, when a small colony was discovered on the north Norfolk coast.

Go to wildlifetrusts.org/where_to_see_a_ spoonbill to find a spot these wader birds may be visiting near you this summer.