Have I got Smews for you!

The best view I have ever had of a Smew was as a white dot through my binoculars at Rutland Water. Needless to say they are a bit shy. When I heard that one had turned up at Switherland I gave in to my twitching reflex and went off on a wild Smew chase. After initially going to the wrong end of the reservoir I went back later to the other end. Apparently this Smew drake was near the dam. I looked up the the length of the dam and could see a distant white bird. A closer look revealed it to be a Goldeneye drake. I went back to the other end and followed the edge of the lake a short way. Apart from flushing a few more Goldeneyes and the odd Great Crested Grebe I didn't see anything so I returned to my car. I was about to give in when I spotted that the white dot bobbing around near the other end of the dam had turned into two white dots. I went back and spotted that alongside the Goldeneye was the Smew. The dam wall enabled me to sneak up quite close and peak over. Every time the bird dived I crept closer until It was swimming around right in front of me. It was 100% pure magic!

Here is the Smew with the Goldeneye

And before you ask, I did get some ultra slow motion footage so check out the video below. If you're reading this on facebook then you will need to go to my blog.