A stocky wader seen on rocky shores in Britain in winter, with distinctive yellow legs.
It has a stocky body and yellow to orange legs.
Birds wintering in Britain use exposed rocky shores, and some return to the same stretch of coast year after year.
The male offers tundra scrapes and the female chooses a site. Feathers, sedges and leaves line the nest of three or four spotted eggs. Both sexes incubate; females leave around hatching and males rear chicks to fledging. White-downy chicks walk and peck within hours.
It searches rocks and seaweed for mussels, snails, marine worms and small crabs. Small mussels are swallowed whole and their shells crushed in the gizzard. Feeding is more frequent on falling and low tides, and continues at night even in winter.
The slightly drooping bill is yellow to orange at its base. Nonbreeding birds are rich slate gray, with a violet sheen on some wing feathers. Juveniles have pale-edged upperpart feathers, producing a scaly appearance.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.