Water Rail: Said to be one of the most elusive birds that we have, shy and reclusive staying out of sight in the reeds, water rails are usually heard and not seen by their unmistakable loud piglet like squeal sound that they make.But occasionally during the winter months they can be seen feeding on split seed around the feeders of Pengy's Hide.
Winter is a good time to see water rails as the vegetation cover has died back and the birds are forced out into the open to search of food.
The bird was typically nervous only coming out in full view for a few minutes at a time, occasionally rushing in to pick up a few seeds before rushing back to cover.
On a day like today, after a few weeks of bad weather and thick cloud it was good for the soul to get out under the blue skies and lemon light of the winter's morning before returning to work and logging on back on.
