Radley GP's (05/09/10)

On a particularly overcast and damp day went over to Radley GP's but the directions to the bird were somewhat patchy. I eventually found a couple of birders who told where to find it.

Once at the ash lagoon I quickly found my quarry, i.e. a juvenile/1st-winter Spotted Crake (157) which was feeding with a couple of Moorhens on the ash right out in the open (although a little distant). ID features noted were the buff undertail coverts, white spotting on body, greyish throat and and yellowish bill. Unlike most crakes I see this one spent more time in the open than it did in cover!

Around the rest of the lakes were a couple of Green Sandpipers, 3 Greenshank, a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Pheasant walking across the ash! and a Common Sandpiper.