❃ Few wading birds are as instantly recognisable as the Eurasian spoonbill. Tall, white, and crowned in the breeding season with a tuft of golden plumes, it carries the feature that gives the species its name — a long, flattened bill that widens at the tip into a perfect spatula, swept side to side through shallow water to sift out small fish, shrimp, and aquatic insects.

❃ Breeding colonies form across the wetlands of Europe and Central Asia, from the Spanish marismas to the reedbeds of the Caspian. Spoonbills nest in tight clusters in reeds or trees, often alongside herons and egrets, and migrate south in winter to North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of South Asia. Watching a flock feed in unison — heads down, bills swinging in rhythm — is one of the great quiet spectacles of any healthy wetland.

❃ Once driven near to vanishing across much of Europe by drainage and persecution, the Eurasian spoonbill has staged a careful return over recent decades, recolonising old marshes and finding new ones along restored coastlines. A subtle indicator species — where spoonbills feed, the water is still alive.