Best time to see: all year

Key facts

Secretive marsh-dwelling bird, its pig-like squeal often revealing its presence

Habitat: dense reedbeds, swampy ditches and alder thickets

Widespread resident

Recognition

Grey and brown waterbird with long red bill and pink legs; 28 cm

Often picks its way daintily through waterside vegetation, eating plants, invertebrates and amphibians

When startled, flies off weakly with legs trailing; alarm and territorial call is a pig-like squeal Play

Lifecycle

In courtship the male feeds the female, who sometimes walks round him and rubs her bill against him

Nest is a cup of reeds hidden above water; 2 broods of 6–10 creamy eggs spotted reddish, April–July