On Tuesday / Wednesday Kev @kev07713, his wife Karen @karenheath62 , and our mutual friend Nick Truby @old_caley ,had all made a pilgrimage to see the little crake reported at Linford Lakes NR first on Monday evening. Unfortunately, I had several work appointments and couldn't join them. For most people I know this would be a lifer and it was true for all of my friends.
However, on Thursday morning I had a small window of opportunity with my first meeting of the day scheduled for 10.30am - one slight issue was that, unlike the two previous days, non-permit holders were not being catered for - issues with health and safety and controlled numbers/access. The issue was easy to overcome as it was possible to buy an annual permit which would allow access immediately, and for the rest of the year - a no brainer.
Typically breeding in eastern Europe and in reed beds, little crakes are vagrants to the UK with only one or a very few records per decade; they are migratory and winter in Africa. Little crakes are very secretive in the breeding season, are mostly heard rather than seen, but can be easier to see on migration.
They are slightly smaller than spotted crakes, from which they are readily distinguished by the lack of dark barring and white spots on the flanks - Kev and I had seen a spotted crake in late August 2022 and so this was something to go on. They mainly eat insects and aquatic animals and from photos posted on X (formerly Twitter) this week, it had showed well on occasions as it worked along the edge of the reeds.
I arrived and found myself first there at about 6.30am and unlocked the padlock with the code supplied by the Parkland Trust. As I was closing the gate, two more members arrived and so I left that honour to them, my car already on the inside. I parked at the far end of the car park and joined the now handful of birders that had arrived as I put on my walking boots.
At the Otter Hide I took a place on the benches looking out over the water and settled in, hoping I'd get a view in the couple of hours I had. After about 25 minutes I could hear someone unlocking the door with the code and as they came in I could see it was Keviin Heath's sister Karen @hobbylovinglife and her partner Dean @worlebirder. We said our 'hellos' and settled down. On Dean's second sweep of the water, he called our bird as it was flushed by something in the reeds, landing on the front edge of the bund. It fed in and out of the reeds, working left until it was lost for about 20 minutes. We had our fingers crossed that it might hop across the channel and work round in front of the hide - a good opportunity to catch up with Karen and Dean.
With only about 10 minutes before I'd need to leave for work the bird appeared on our far left and continued to work right - come on! It wasn't long before we had great views but often interrupted by the reed stems. I did get a couple of photos as it moved through some more open areas but as it was about to reach the sparser area of vegetation it turned and worked back left and eventually out of view. No doubt it would show again but happy with my views I shot off and made it to work before the compulsory core hours began.
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