Spotted Crake Combe Hill N.R. Gloucestershire 3rd September 2007
The famous september 1983 gales is when I last saw a Spotted Crake. It was at Chew Valley Lake. The combe hill bird was showing well for the last few days so i took the trip up to see for myself. Once on site, a wait until 7pm saw the bird showing to just a few feet.
Spotted Crake is a migratory species breeding across europe and western asia and wintering in africa and india. This autumn up to 3rd sept there have been several sightings. The first influx was on 8th and 9th August in the south-west. Weather on these dates showed light northerlies stretching as far south as africa. A second influx occured starting around 21st august this time records more biased towards the south of england. Again far reaching northerlies with winds a little stronger. By 1st september the winds were in a north westerly direction which resulted in a new total of 5 national records. Many birds move north/north-west after breeding which to date is still a mystery to me. Spotted Crake is another example of a species replicating this behaviour.
Still present today (4th September) it is best looked for early morning and late evening. I arrived on site not long after 5:45 and saw the bird straight away but mainly obscured by reeds as it fed around the perimeter of a small puddle amongst the reeds. Come 7pm the bird was suddenly right in front of the hide in full view much to the delight of all onlookers. This is something the bird had done on previous evenings.
