Spotted Crake

Seen one? Add it to your free UK BirdedexHear its song and see the mapFree, no app download. Rare bird: +8 points when you log it.

Spotted Crake in the UK

The Spotted Crake is a very scarce summer visitor and scarce passage migrant. The UK breeding estimate is just 27 singing males, counted over 2013 to 2017, and breeding is hardly ever proved because the birds stay hidden in dense, wet vegetation. It was more widespread before the fens and marshes were drained in the 19th century. It is Amber-listed and protected under Schedule 1. Birds arrive from April and winter in Africa. In autumn, migrants from the Continent, mostly juveniles, turn up at wetlands across Britain.

Where and when to see a Spotted Crake

Autumn is the time. From August to October, juveniles feed on wet mud at the foot of reedbeds when water levels drop, and some stay for a week or more. Watch from hides overlooking muddy reed edges at dawn and dusk. Reserves with repeated autumn records include RSPB Blacktoft Sands in East Yorkshire, WWT Martin Mere in Lancashire, Chew Valley Lake in Somerset and RSPB Marazion Marsh in Cornwall. Spring males sing at night in remote fens and flooded meadows. Those sites are sensitive and best left alone.

Habitat, diet and field notes

Habitat: Reedy marsh (very scarce breeder).
Diet: Invertebrates.
Field note: Whiplash song at night.

How to identify a Spotted Crake

A plump, short-tailed bird a little smaller than a Water Rail, about the size of a Starling, that creeps along reed edges. The bill is short and straight, yellowish with a red base, nothing like a Water Rail's long red bill. The body is olive-brown above, grey-brown below, covered in fine white spots on the neck, breast and back. The flanks are barred. The undertail is plain buff, which stands out as the bird walks away flicking its tail. Legs are green. Juveniles are browner and paler on the throat.

Call and song

The song is a sharp, rising "whitt", like a whip cracking or a drip into a bucket, repeated about once a second, sometimes for hours. It is given after dark from April to June and carries a long way on still nights. Autumn migrants are silent. Heard something you cannot place? Bird Hear identifies UK birds from a 10 second recording, free in your browser.

Confusion species

• Water Rail: Water Rail has a long, slightly curved red bill, a plain blue-grey face and breast, and a white-and-buff undertail.
• Little Crake: Little Crake is smaller and slimmer with long wingtips, almost no white spotting, and a barred (not plain buff) undertail.
• Common Moorhen: A young Moorhen is bigger and plain brown with a white line along the flank and white sides to the undertail.

Related guide Bird migration in Britain.

Conservation status and Birdedex points

In the Birdedex the Spotted Crake is a Rare tier bird, worth +8 points when you log one. It is Amber-listed in Birds of Conservation Concern 5, the middle level of concern in the UK. It is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, so it is an offence to disturb it at or near the nest. We blur the location of every sighting of this species.

Recent UK sightings

Similar birds

• SoraLegendary · Wet marshes (very rare)
• Montagu's HarrierRare · Cereal fields (very rare breeder)
• Savi's WarblerRare · Reedbeds (very rare breeder)
• Baillon's CrakeEpic · Wet marsh
• Northern HarrierLegendary · Marsh (very rare)
• Pallas's BuntingLegendary · Marsh scrub (very rare)

Spotted Crake: quick answers

Where can I see a Spotted Crake in the UK?

At a wetland reserve with muddy reedbed edges in late summer and autumn. A handful are found most years and news gets out quickly, since they often stay put. Sit in the hide early or late in the day and watch the base of the reeds.

Is the Spotted Crake rare in the UK?

As a breeding bird it is one of our scarcest, with fewer than 30 singing males in recent counts. On passage it is scarce but annual. Its habits make it seem rarer than it is: many must pass through unseen.

What does a Spotted Crake eat?

Small invertebrates picked from mud and shallow water: insects and their larvae, small snails, worms and spiders. It also eats some seeds and plant shoots.

Kit that helps

Best spotting scopes for UK birding. Affiliate links, our own picks, no extra cost to you.