Common Sandpiper
Actitis hypoleucos

The Common Sandpiper is a small, but quite distinctive wader. The bold eyestripe, constrasting warm brown and white plumage and white curl at the side of the breast help to tell this bird apart from waders along with the stiff-winged flight and continual tail bobbing. They are mostly summer visitors to Britain, breeding mainly near fresh water in Scotland, Wales and the north of England, but do turn up in a lot of other places, too. A very small number also overwinter on the south coast of Britain (such as this bird photographed in Southampton), but they generally move on to Africa. They are also found across Europe and into Asia (I've seen them in Spain, Switzerland and Singapore) and down into Australia. As with most other small waders, their food is mainly invertebrates and they spend much of their time searching through rocks and shingle for them. They are small birds at 18-20 cm in length.
 

1-3: Riverside Park, Southampton, Hampshire, 06/04/2013.