A Red-necked Grebe and Spotted Crake in Deepest Essex

26th September 2017

First stop today was the fishing lake in the Roding Valley where the juvenile Red-necked Grabe had been thrilling the crowds over the last few days. The bird was quickly located and it soon became apparent that the problem was not going to be the distance of the bird which was showing down to less than 10 yards, but the light which was mainly behind the bird. However after a couple of hours when the sun had moved round a bit, it was possible to get some shots especially when the bird was north of you, putting the sun to one side.

Now on to Ingrebourne Valley for a second try at the Spotted Crake. It was a little more elusive today, so there was some time available to look at the other wildlife such as the Buzzards on the other side of the lake.

The water levels had dropped considerably since my last visit and the resultant wet mud had attracted up to three Green Sandpipers, but no sign of any Snipe. However, over about half an hour Snipe started to appear from the reeds until there were no less than 26 feeding in the shallows/

Anyway, back to the business at hand. The Spotted Crake did eventually appear but, unlike my previous visit, stayed to the left side of the viewpoint but at least allow a couple more shots of this most obliging bird to be taken. What a successful day!!!!