This Spotted Crake had been at Oare Marshes for a few weeks so some local bird watching friends and I decided that it was time to go and see it and take a few photographs, objectives which we thought would be difficult and which proved to be so. The prospective habitat was close to the track but three hours later and still no sign or sound of the bird, it was time to go and get some lunch. We returned to the same spot after lunch to find a couple of other birders with cameras pointing into the reed bed. This suggested that the bird had appeared and proceeding quietly, we saw that indeed the bird was feeding in slimy mud among the reeds.
Country: UK
Location: Oare Marshes, Kent
Family: Rails, Crakes and Coots (Rallidae)
Species: Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana)
Date taken: 01/10/2013