Spotted Crakes are very secretive in the breeding season and
are then mostly heard rather than seen. They are then noisy
birds with a distinctive repetitive whiplash-like 'hwuit
hwuit' call. The word crake stems from the Middle English
'crow' and is probably a corruption of the Old Norse word 'kraka'.
It may also originate from the Old English word 'crá'
meaning 'croaking'.
There have been two Spotted Crakes reported from S.
Gloucestershire;
1891: (2)
One was 'obtained' sometime in September this year at Stoke
Bridge in Stoke Gifford with another 'obtained' sometime in
October at Patchway.