Sand Martin

Name: Sand Martin

Scientific name: Riparia riparia

Category: Birds

Nature Stars: 50

What are nature stars?

About: A common summer visitor, arriving in March and leaving in October. Sand Martins nest in colonies, digging burrows in steep sandy cliffs, usually next to water. Our smallest swallow, commonest around wetlands. In the autumn, large numbers gather together.

How to identify: Sand Martins are brown above, white below with a brown breast band and short forked tail.

Where: Widespread. You can sometimes spot this bird swooping into its nest in a hole in a riverbank.

Natural Superpowers

• Predator: 70
• Agility: 80
• Rarity: 40
• Cute factor: 60
• Traveller: 80

Fantastic fact: In North America, known as the Bank Swallow

Photograph credit: Photo credit tbc