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RARITY RATINGS
Common, widely distributed
Localised – always a treat
Very scarce or rare
SANDERLING
Many of our common waders (or shorebirds, in American English) are Arctic breeders. The Sanderling is one of these. Some 20,500 Sanderlings winter around our coast, preferring flat, sandy beaches, where they love to run along the tiny breaking wavelets in search of morsels. Though not a nesting bird in the UK, there are an estimated 40,000 individuals which pass through on passage, which includes late spring, into June. By this time, they will have very much changed from the ghostly pale winter plumage, through an elegant early spring plumage, flecked with gold, to the altogether richer, rufous-headed, rufous-chested, spangle-backed breeding attire. They are about the size of Dunlins, but shorter and straighter…
