Eggs on ricefields

Spring is coming to an end and, with it, the breeding season of most waders here. But some of them go for a late round of breeding in the rice fields, which were recently flooded and sown.

Last week, we joined Jordi Figuerola for field work and found, along the dikes separating the different rice plots, numerous nests of Kentish plover, black-winged stilt and collared pratincoles. They ranged from rudimentary nests to mere excavations on the ground, with eggs rather difficult to spot - even in some of these close-ups.

Can you see them?