Juv. Baillons Crake.
I arrived at Rspb reserve Rainham Marshes at approx 5.30 am , i made my way around to the Shooters Pool hide and joined the already assembled birders in the hope of connecting with the Baillons Crake , the right hand side of the hide was packed as that has been the best area to view the Crake , i found an empty seat on the left hand side and plonked myself down , i was set for maybe a couple of seconds view of the Crake as that has been all most birders have been lucky enough to get ,
Juv. Baillons Crake.
The light was improving and visibility was much better , i then got onto a small Crake flying across the pool and soon another birder was on the bird and confirmed it was the Baillon's Crake , the Crake begun climbing along the reeds and gave amazing views for about ten minutes and according to the rspb member of staff this is the best it has shown , of course i was elated to have seen it , quite a few birders turned up after it had flown out of sight and were a little bit disappointed to say the least.
I decided to hang around to see if it would reappear and it was seen a couple of times in flight but had become elusive , however somewhere between 7 and 730 , ( my phone and pager were turned off so had no idea of time ) the Baillons Crake reappeared right in front of me just the other side of the small channel climbing in amongst the reeds .
Baillons Crake.
Sorry about the poor quality of photos , the light wasn't that great but at least you can get an idea of plumage detail , the white flecks looked like they were painted on with tippex , this showed well for another 5 minutes before it once again disappeared into the reeds and out of sight , and although i have now been lucky enough to have seen 3 Baillons Crakes in the UK this was still a remarkable bird to see .
I did not add to much more here although a fly through Black Tailed Godwit was nice plus there were plenty of Sedge Warblers and Chiffchaffs , i heard several Cetti's Warbler and another birder identified a Migrant Hawker Dragonfly which was pretty smart .
I did not add to much more here although a fly through Black Tailed Godwit was nice plus there were plenty of Sedge Warblers and Chiffchaffs , i heard several Cetti's Warbler and another birder identified a Migrant Hawker Dragonfly which was pretty smart .
