Spotting the Spotted Crake

OK, now I need a couple of good excuses for the crap photos that I took of the following bird a few days ago. So, as you can see from the photo below the weather was far from ideal. It was gloomy and overcast and tending to drizzle every now and then. Couple this with the fact that the bird was just a bit too distant for my 70-300ml lens and those are the excuses I'm sticking to. Apart from that, it was a real thrill to even get to see this bird let alone photograph it. It is a rare breeding bird in Britain and also tends to be very skulking, preferring to slip unobtrusively in amongst the vegetation at the waters edge.Early Saturday morning I thought I'd go down to the Somerset Levels, but rather than go to my usual haunts, I decided to try a couple of different areas. I'm very glad I did. This bird was at the RSPB's newest reserve at Greylake. It is a bit further for me to drive, but only by about 15 minutes or so. I shall definitely be going back there in future.The Spotted Crake is a Starling sized Rail which is a rare and local breeder in Britain, mainly in Scotland. This appears to be a juvenile bird due to the lack of black on the face and minimal red to the base of the bill.It certainly seems to find itself pretty handsome!The buff undertail coverts are diagnostic.In my next post, I'll show a couple of the other birds I found at this lovely reserve.