Last day of my hols and decided to try and connect with the juvenile Spotted Crake which had been reported at East Chevington. The signs were not good as when I arrived at the site there seemed to be a mass exodus of birders, one of them had last seen it at about 9.15 am and it hadn't been seen since,this was 3 hours ago. On reaching the hide there were about 10 people there,I had taken a seat and after the first hour I was glad of it. There were about 300 Lapwing plus a number of Common Terns, Sandwich Terns and a single Arctic Tern on the mud, suddenly they all took to the air and someone shouted Peregrine, as the bird got closer it lacked the bulk of a Peregrine and seemed to have narrower wings, as it flew past in front of us it showed off it's orangey/red vent which instantly identified it as an adult Hobby. Time passed slowly and we were about to give up when someone shouted Crake and there it was a tiny little bird which emerged for about 5 seconds and then disappeared only to be seen once more for an even briefer view. Longer views would have been better but this is the more typical sight of a crake, something which probably makes them more attractive to birders is their difficulty to see well. Also of note were 4 Greenshanks, 4 Ruff and one splendid looking Dunlin in his summer finery.
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