Sandpiper

For me, the distinctive piping, panicky calls of sandpipers are amongst the most distinctive sounds of summer in Weardale, along the banks of the river Wear and around Tunstall reservoir. You can listen here.

I watched this one at Tunstall reservoir yesterday, where I must have been standing close to its nest, although I never found it. The agitated bird led repeatedly me away, walking along the shoreline and bobbing up and down, then flew back about 100m. with that fast, stiff- winged shallow wingbeat that's characteristic of the species.

Sandpipers winter in Africa and this year they seemed to return a bit later that usual. Good to see them back though.