SATURDAY 7 SEPTEMBER
It was late morning and whilst watching a
Keyhaven Marshes vagrant Semipalmated Sandpiper at just a few yards that I
receive a call informing me of a SPOTTED CRAKE at WILSTONE RESERVOIR. Typical -
only yesterday Mike Campbell and I had commented at how good the reservoir looks
for this species at the moment. But hey-ho, local Super-hero Steve Rodwell was
in town and in usual top form, espying the bird as it made a fleeting attempt at
stardom as he was 'scoping the reed fringe from the jetty. Steve was pretty
convinced from his initial brief view but waited until he got better views
before informing others and setting off a twitch - after all, it was some 17
years since the last Spotted Crake had graced the reservoirs.
Once confirmed, Steve had immediately got
the news out to Dave Bilcock and within the hour, Dave, Mike C, Francis and
other immediate locals had connected. The bird continued to show intermittently
on about half a dozen occasions until 1330 hours but then disappeared. I arrived
on site just after 1400 hours, the crowd by then swollen to at least 24
individuals. Despite a number of claims, the only birds at the reed fringe were
4 Water Rails (including 3 juveniles), a Common Snipe and some 17 Moorhens, as
well as 3 different COMMON KINGFISHERS, 14 Western Reed Warblers and 6 Sedge
Warblers.
I sat down on the East Bank expecting a long
vigil, after all most crakes are semi-crepuscular and show best as the light
begins to fade. An hour went by and nothing but just as the second was about to
pass, Graham Smith got on to a small bird in the reeds and it was it. It came
out of the reeds and on to the margin and showed well then on and off until at
least 1730 hours, sadly at great distance from the bank - at 227 yards. I tried
numerous times to get a record shot but it was impossible, the bird being just
too small and far away. Throughout it favoured a narrow muddy fringe, about half
way along the reeds as you view from the bank or jetty. Although quite a few
observers departed without seeing it, perhaps 45 did connect, including some as
far afield as Oxfordshire and East Hertfordshire.
Whilst waiting for the crake to appear,
other species encountered included 2 Chinese Water Deer (munching emergent
vegetation along the margin) and the 2 long-staying GARGANEYS (both together
again), as well as the family party of 4 HOBBIES. A juvenile BLACK-TAILED GODWIT
commuted between the Drayton Bank and the mud by the overflow in the NW corner,
some 12 Little Egrets were about, 5 Common Snipes and a migrant Lesser
Whitethroat in the north hedgerow. Most unexpected was a fine and very
fresh-plumaged juvenile OSPREY that flew quickly SSE fairly low across the
reservoir.
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