Country diary: What a privilege it is to witness bird migration on such a scale

Every so often, the dunlin ‘are spooked by something and lift into the air, their white undersides catching the sunlight’. Photograph: Steve Taylor ARPS/Alamy

With the sadness of our summer migrants departing the UK for another year comes the joy of our wintering birds returning. Working in conservation at Poole harbour, I’m out most days, connected to the ebb and flow of this change.

As it is one of the largest natural harbours in the world, and located on the East Atlantic Flyway, birds are constantly on the move here, whether leaving, arriving or stopping to refuel.