Best time to see: all year

Key facts

Common red-legged wader of estuaries and marshes with distinctive 'tyew-tyew-tyew' call

Most seen in Essex are passage migrants and winter visitors, on marshes, estuaries and shores

Some pairs breed on large inland wetlands such as the Lea Valley and on grazing marshes such as Old Hall Marshes

Recognition

Dumpy wader with brown upperparts, long red legs and medium-sized black-and-red bill; 27 cm

Broad white wingbar when flying is distinctive; eats crustaceans, molluscs and worms on muddy open shores

Often seen in large noisy flocks on estuaries, or heard flying off with its distinctive call Play

Lifecycle

Both sexes make nest scrapes on marshy ground, and the female chooses one and lines it with dry grass

One brood mid-April to June; 4 buff eggs with dark spots and blotches

In winter most birds move to the coast