Smew and Far Between

What a welcome change in the wet weather today! I woke to a lovely sunrise and the sun continued to shine until I got down to The Mere, when it was obscurred by clouds - an obscure Pink Floyd reference there 😎

Jon had reported a drake Smew west of Swan Island so I was keen to see if was still hanging around as I haven't seen a drake at The Mere, only females (aka redheads).

I got to second field to find Jon and Mike with their scopes and they soon put me onto the Smew. It was unfortunately rather distant and didn't get any nearer while I was there. I viewed it through Mike's scope and saw it though my bins OK but the pics I managed were rather poor.  We don't get many records of Smew at The Mere and they are usually redheads so a drake was exceptional for me to see. I won't repeat the awful pun I headed this post with!!!!

drake Smew - my first here

Could be a second year bird

I decided to go and try the new viewing platform at Decoy hide. On my way there the usual large flock of finches were in Ouzel Hedge and a Bullfinch was calling from a hawthorn:

Bullfinch on its own, usually seen in pairs with a female

Going down through the wood I saw a flock of Long-tailed Tits so I stopped and watched them go through, hoping a Tree Creeper may be following them as they often do. As expected one turned up along with a couple of Coal Tits:

Tree Creeper mooching over a dead branch

Tree Creeper off to follow the L-TT

Down to the hide then and what a great view from the top of Decoy Hide!

Panorama view from the viewing platform

view to the west

view to the east

The Great White Egret was here again and a couple of Marsh Harriers were hunting over the opposite reed bed.

GWE here as usual

Young male Marsh Harrier

The view from the platform is great as you can see over the reeds that usually restrict the view from down in the hide. A Grey Heron approached from the east and flew by the hide so it gave superb views from the elevated position.

I was joined by George and Mike and George said that he glimpsed a Bittern going into the reeds opposite. We watched for a while but didn't see it through the now quite heavy rain. Maybe it will show itself tomorrow?