He had been thinking of wintering in our town anyway, before my mother sprang her surprise.

NEWYORKER: Gravel

Which is why, my dear, we shall be wintering in the Bakkens.

FORBES: Forget Florida My Dear, This Year We Shall Winter in The Bakkens

Migrating peregrine falcons traveling north from South American wintering areas, destined for nesting areas as far as Greenland, are also crossing the Gulf's marshes.

CNN: We are all Gulf victims now

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said it was worried about the potential impact to a wintering population of sea birds.

BBC: Ship aground: Bid to limit impact of MV Carrier fuel leak

The team has already collected feathers from a range of surrogate species around Lake Chad in Nigeria, and is looking for further sites where warblers may be wintering.

BBC: Feathers clue to warbler's travels

Groups such as the RSPB and WWF say that if the Cardiff-Weston project went ahead, much of this vital feeding area that currently supports tens of thousands of migrating and wintering birds would be permanently submerged.

BBC: The ebb and flow of tidal power

The Ouse Washes includes a large floodplain which is looked after by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and provides a habitat for the Bewick's swan and whooper swan and wintering birds of prey, including the hen harrier, merlin, peregrine falcon and short-eared owl.

BBC: Work on new flood defences near Ouse Washes starts

We are talking about breeding starlings here rather than wintering starlings, many of which are migrants from the North and East and still flock to the South West in huge numbers: as attested to by the spectacular roosts of a million birds or more on the Somerset Levels.

BBC: Bristol - In your garden: which birds rule?