A large wader with long legs and a down-curved bill that uses coastal wetlands and grasslands at different times of year.
Its brown upperparts, long legs, and long down-curved bill are distinctive.
In winter it feeds in groups on tidal mudflats and saltmarshes, then moves to breeding areas in rough upland grassland and wetlands in spring and summer.
In Britain it nests in a ground scrape, usually laying four eggs. Incubation, mainly by the female and occasionally by the male, lasts 27–29 days. Chicks are downy and fledge after 32–38 days.
Its bubbling calls carry over upland moors and grazing land. In winter, large numbers from Fennoscandia join birds on British coasts and nearby farmland.
An extensive white area covers the rump and lower back, and the underparts are whitish.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.