Best time to see: all year
Key facts
Long-billed wader with streaked cream and green back, frequenting wet margins
Habitat: freshwater marshes and flooded fields with plenty of low cover
Once abundant resident, now very localized as a result of drainage of wet meadows: only a few pairs breed in Essex
Recognition
Long legs and very long bill, dark streaked upperparts; 25–27 cm
Tends to keep to cover but feeds in open when not alarmed; flies off in zig-zag flight when disturbed; gregarious
Eats worms and insects, feeding with fast sewing machine-like action
Lifecycle
In display flight, males make a distinctive drumming noise with outer tail feathers
Nest is a lined hollow on ground; 1 or 2 broods April to May; 4 pale green eggs with brown blotches
In winter the resident population is swelled by immigrants from northern Europe
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© Alan Williams