A piece of England in Normandy

Well, not exactly. The above bird is a Kentish Plover, which despite its name is nowhere to be found in the garden of England. On the beaches of the Cotentin Peninsula, though, they're present in good numbers, scurrying among the shingle and making their nests there too (although one pair we were shown had sensibly tucked theirs under a grassy bank at the top of the beach, not only keeping it well out of sight but also protecting it from the elements).

As always when I see ground-nesting birds, I marvelled at how they could ever successfully raise a brood, out there in the open, but they seem to do OK, helped by the fact that the beaches are nothing like as busy as they would be in the UK.

Kentish Plovers are one of three species which have names relating to that particular county. Spotter's badge to the first person to correctly name the other two.