Sandpipers & Snipes in Buckinghamshire
10 species matching this filter.
Buckinghamshire's river valleys, reservoirs, and wetland margins provide important stopover and feeding habitats for a variety of sandpipers and snipes. Ten species from this family have been recorded in the county, including passage migrants such as Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, and Wood Sandpiper, as well as scarcer visitors like Red-necked Phalarope and Ruff. Sites along the Thames floodplain and gravel pits near the Colne Valley are particularly rewarding for birdwatchers seeking these wading birds.
Black-tailed Godwit
Limosa limosaNT
A rare passage migrant in July–August, pausing at reservoir edges and flooded fields on southward migration.
Jul–Aug
Common Sandpiper
Actitis hypoleucosLC
An uncommon visitor to reservoir edges and gravel pits, mainly on passage. Bobs its tail constantly along stony shores.
Apr–Oct
Common Snipe
Gallinago gallinagoLC
An uncommon non-breeding visitor to wet meadows and marshy margins, most numerous from autumn through to early spring.
Aug–Apr
Dunlin
Calidris alpinaLC
A rare breeding wader present from April to August, favouring wet grassland and gravel pit margins. Inland breeding records are increasingly scarce.
Apr–Aug
Green Sandpiper
Tringa ochropusLC
A rare but year-round visitor to waterways and gravel pits, often flushed from ditches and muddy pond edges with a distinctive bobbing flight.
Jun–Apr
Greenshank
Tringa nebulariaLC
Rare passage visitor in spring and autumn, pausing at reservoirs and flooded gravel pits. Its ringing call often betrays its presence.
Apr–Sep
Red-necked Phalarope
Phalaropus lobatusLC
A rare September passage vagrant, an exciting find at any inland site. Occasionally stops at reservoirs and sewage works on migration.
Sep
Redshank
Tringa totanusLC
A rare breeding wader found at wet meadows and reservoir margins from February to July. Numbers have declined significantly across inland England.
Feb–Jul
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Ruff
Philomachus pugnaxLC
A rare passage migrant glimpsed at muddy scrapes and reservoir edges in April and again in late summer. Most records come from sites like Little Marlow.
Apr–Sep
Wood Sandpiper
Tringa glareolaLC
A rare August passage migrant, occasionally stopping at gravel pits and reservoir margins in the county during southward migration.
Aug