Spotted crake at Oare keeps us waiting

Today I went with David Campbell to Oare Marshes. There were a few Curlew sandpipers, ruff, dunlins and bar-tailed godwits. There were quite a few golden plovers, lapwings, shovelers, redshank and teal, and a whole host of black-tailed godwits. However the main attraction was the spotted crake which had been there for a few days.

After scanning the East flood and admiring the range of birds on offer we went to the East hide where we learned that the spotted crake had been seen about 30 minutes before. We waited patiently for about half an hour and then I saw it! It came out briefly, looked at me, turned right and then deftly walked into the reeds. It was unhurried but it lasted only about 10 seconds and David missed it!

Nothing for it but to wait for it to show again.

We had to wait a couple of hours as it turned out but then the spotted crake put on a show for about 10 minutes. It was mobile and not very keen on coming out into the open but I got a couple of shots.
A nice end to the afternoon.

Spotted crake

Spotted crake