Birdwatch: like a clockwork toy the sandpiper is all whir and whistles

The common sandpiper is a hyperactive bobbing wader, a pleasure to spot and hardly deserving of its everyday nameWhen it comes to bird names I've never much liked the word "common". Not only is it usually inaccurate (as in gull, scoter and rosefinch), it also suggests that the species is not worth a second glance. For the common sandpiper, that's certainly not true. It's always a pleasure to come across this neat little wader, whether along a Scottish stream, on its African wintering grounds, or at my coastal patch, the Brue and Parrett estuaries in Somerset.I've seen these sandpipers as early as March here and as late as November. But autumn marks the peak passage as they stop off to feed on the muddy river edges on their journey south. Continue reading...