Spotted Crake
Porzana porzana
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Distribution Britain 26 (-33.3%) Ireland 1 (0%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 14 RBBP Ireland 0 European status: 55,000 (0% in Britain and Ireland) British population trend: just hanging on! |
These birds may formerly have been widespread and quite common in Britain and even have bred regularly in Ireland 150 or 200 years ago. Now they are widely scattered and infrequent save at major wetland sites in Inverness and Cambridgeshire. Seldom seen, they are usually recorded by call at night. Only three or four birds were recorded in several years in the early 1980s but a recent peak (1993) was of 31 recorded males and there were 14 in 1997. Just a small toehold.
Adam, R.G. & Booth, C.J. 1999 Scottish Birds: 20, 14-17.
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead