Common sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos

Small brown and white wader often seen bobbing its rear end

Habitat: freshwater marshes, estuaries and upland streams

Summer visitor to the UK, breeding in hill districts; passage migrant elsewhere

Brown upperparts, white underparts, short greenish legs

Often seen creeping along margins of freshwater areas; bobs rear end continuously

Eats insects, molluscs and crustaceans; flickering flight usually low over water

Nest is a hollow on ground

1 brood May to June; 4 buff eggs speckled brown