Common Sandpiper, Actitis hypoleucos, is a species of wader found in unvegetated or sparsely vegetated land and river and lake ecosystems. It breeds in large numbers across the whole of Europe, with somewhat patchy distribution in Western, Central and South-Eastern Europe. This species is a full migrant, migrating at night overland on a broad front across both deserts and mountains. During the breeding season this species shows a preference for pebbly, sandy or rocky margins of fast-flowing rivers, as well as small ponds, pools and dams, clear freshwater lake shores, sheltered sea coasts with rocky or sandy beaches, tidal creeks and estuaries, and often forages in patches of dry meadow. In its winter range it inhabits habitats, such as small pools, ditches, riverbanks, streams, dam shores, marshy areas, estuaries, freshwater seeps on coastal shores and saltmarshes, harbours, docks and filtration tanks of sewage works. It will also forage on grassland along roadsides and occasionally in gardens, but it generally avoids large coastal mudflats (European Red List 2015).

Actitis hypoleucos has a breeding population size of 223000-381000 pairs and a breeding range size of 2200000 square kilometres in the EU27. The breeding population trend in the EU27 is Decreasing in the short term and Decreasing in the long term.

The EU population status of Actitis hypoleucos was assessed as Near Threatened, because the species comes close to meeting the IUCN Red List criteria at the EU27 scale.