This secretive bird is a member of the rail family, related to coots and moorhens. The breeding call, a rasping rattle, is given mostly at night, sometimes for hours on end.

The tiny firecrest vies with the goldcrest for the title of the UK's smallest bird. Once just a visitor, the firecrest can now be found breeding in woodlands in the south of England.

Found in ponds and marshes, the fragile look of the common water-measurer belies its fierce nature. A predator of small insects, it uses the vibrations of the water's surface to locate its…