Sanderling, Calidris alba, is a species of wader found in unvegetated or sparsely vegetated land and marine inlet and transitional water ecosystems. It breeds in the high Arctic in northern Greenland and Svalbard. This species is a full long-distance migrant that travels mainly via offshore and coastal routes using a number of favoured stopover sites. The species breeds on barren, stony tundra with well-drained ridges, gentle slopes or level alluvial plains supporting scattered vegetation of willow Salix spp. , Dryas spp. and saxifrage Saxifraga spp. usually less than 200 m above sealevel. It is largely coastal during the winter, inhabiting open sandy beaches exposed to the sea, the outer reaches of estuaries, rocky and muddy shores and mudflats (European Red List 2015).

Calidris alba has a winter population size of 68100-75200 individuals in the EU27. The winter population trend in the EU27 is Increasing in the short term and Increasing in the long term.

The EU population status of Calidris alba was assessed as Secure, because the species does not meet any of the IUCN Red List criteria for threatened or Near Threatened, or the criteria for Depleted or Declining (the EU27 population or range has not declined by 20% or more since 1980).