Nature Photographers Ltd

Redshank Tringa totanus L 28cm. Medium-sized wader with shrill alarm call. In flight, note white trailing edge to wings, white back and rump, and trailing red legs. Sexes are similar. Adult in summer is mainly grey-brown above and pale below but back is marked with dark spots and neck, breast and flanks are streaked. Note faint, pale supercilium and eyering; base of bill is reddish. In winter, has uniform grey-brown upperparts, head, neck and breast, with paler, mottled underparts. Bill and leg colours are dull. Juvenile recalls winter adult but plumage is overall browner, back feathers have pale marginal spots, and legs and base of bill are dull yellow. Voice Utters a yelping tiu-uu alarm call. Song is musical and yodelling. Status Locally common nesting species in damp grassland, moors and marshes. Migrants boost numbers outside breeding season and common on coasts in winter.