Small passage sandpipers that move through British wetlands between Arctic breeding grounds and African wintering areas illustrate the global nature of wader welfare and the importance of maintaining a network of high-quality staging habitats along flyway routes.
The welfare of passage sandpipers and other migratory waders depends on an intact network of staging habitats along the entire flyway. Loss of any single major staging area affects all species using that route. British wetlands play a disproportionately important role in the East Atlantic Flyway because of their position and the quality of intertidal habitat around the coastline. Maintaining and restoring these habitats is not only a British conservation issue but a global welfare responsibility.