I must be one of the last local people to visit this charming little bird.  After an abortive attempt yesterday, I struck lucky and had 10 minutes happily snapping away at it between rain showers this morning.  Judging by the posts on the subject on the SOS messageboard, early mornings may be the most productive time to visit.  Certainly other people seem to think so too and by 8am there were already 5-10 people gathered by what has been dubbed the 'crake pond' at RSPB Greylake.  It has been seen on all parts of the pond and has even been seen crossing the path and exploring the other waterways.  At present the pond is largely drained and it seems to like plucking small food items out of the layer of drying duckweed on the surface of the mud.

I photographed a spotted crake here a couple of years ago.  Whether it is the same bird or not I have no idea.  Pictures of the other bird can be seen together with repeats of these on my crake page.

UPDATE: Thanks to Andy Swash for pointing out that this is a juvenile and therefore can't be the same bird as I photographed 2 yrs ago!

Spotted crake - Porzana porzana Spotted crake - Porzana porzana Spotted crake - Porzana porzana