Turnstones turning over a new leaf

IT is wonderful how nature adapts and turns opportunity to advantage.

I never thought I’d see turnstones behave like sparrows, but I witness this every evening on a small beach near the apartment lent us by a niece on the island of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands.

Thrush-sized, black-and-white shorebirds, turnstones can be seen on our Irish coasts picking over seaweedy shores, and turning over stones to get at the small crustaceans and invertebrates beneath.