What they like

Bare, wet edges. Silt. Sand. Gravel. A quiet brook, pond or river where the waterline can shift. Give them messy banks: leave a strip unmown, don’t run a neat revetment along, and at marshy ponds create a few bare sandy spots. In agricultural areas this works too: shallow banks along ditches, and a muddy edge that isn’t “tidied up” every week.

Ecological importance

He picks insects, tiny spiders, snails and small crustaceans off the shore. That way they keeps the teeming life going and shows that your bank is alive. Chicks need a running buffet of small critters; without that wet edge it’s over quickly.

When in the Netherlands

Mostly April through September. Passage peaks in spring and late summer. He hardly breeds here.

Status

Rare breeding bird, but a regular passage migrant. Vulnerable due to disturbance and the loss of natural banks.