Beautiful birds don winter wardrobe

TURNSTONES CHANGE THEIR COLOURFUL 'OUTFITS' DURING THE COLDER MONTHS

- By ALAN WRIGHT For the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside

The turnstones in their 'winter coats' during the holiday in Cornwall

I HAVE just returned from holidaying in Cornwall - walking along the cliffs and on the pebbly beach with my Lakeland Terrier, Ted.

The weather was amazingly mild and it meant I could have breakfast in cafes on the beach, in between searching for shells and shark eggs I found a massive one!

It was interesting to watch around 40 or 50 crows massing high in the trees above the beach at Beer, a huge 'murder' of these clever and resourceful birds, making a wonderful racket.

But my favourite wildlife moment was in Sidmouth, where I came upon a flock of turnstones.