Scientific name: Porzana porzana (Linnaeus, 1766)
Bird group: Rails and Crakes
Field characters. 22-24 cm. Size as Water Rail, but bill much shorter; difficult to observe but with distinctive voice in spring. Upperparts green-brown, spotted and streaked white and with black centres to feathers; wings dark brown. Chest grey-brown, speckled with white; flanks barred black and whitish, pattern continuing under wing and over vent. Blue-grey supercilium, cheeks, and throat; black patch between eye and bill. Under tail-coverts uniform, conspicuous buff. Bill greenish-yellow, red at base. Sexes very similar but female with face less patterned and upperparts greyer and more spotted than in male. Juvenile as adult female but without any grey on face or breast; bill black or dark brown.
Voice. In spring a loud, high-pitched "hwhip.....hwhip..... hwhip", recalling short whiplashes, repeated at short intervals for long periods, usually only in the evening. Also a monotonous, repetitive ticking call "tchick tchuck".
Distribution. Local and scarce summer visitor.
Habitat. In the breeding season confined to swamps, fens, bogs, and wetlands, preferably with standing shallow fresh water.
Food. Mainly small aquatic invertebrates and parts of aquatic plants (leaf, shoot, root; also algae).