Male smew – image by Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
Having unexplainably passed up the chance to be driven in comfort to see the handsome male smew (Mergus albellus) that had just been spotted at Lapwing Hall Lake in Chelford, Cheshire, the opportunity to make my own way there after a nearby family event was one that I had to take, so I consulted the map, wrote down the instructions, turned on ‘location’ on my phone and set off in slight trepidation – anxiety and lack of self-confidence not making the best driving/place-finding companions.
Success, though: straight there through narrow, winding, slightly flooded roads and weather that was, after a sunny morning, taking a turn for the rainy (again). The few birders who were parked up disappeared by the time I was changed and ready to go, so I ended up in the wrong field at first, but soon found my way to the kissing gate, where I was greeted by extremely close views of tree sparrows – a fantastic start and a year tick. The ground around the lake was boggy, trampled by numerous birders’ boots over the last week, and views down to the lake were often obscured by trees, but I could see a bird shining brightly, whitely, from the other side of the lake to where I was standing. It was incredible how he stood out on the grey water. We think of white as an absence of colour but in this bird it was so much more. There was a depth to it, a solidity. Luckily, he did the decent thing and swam out from the shelter of the shoreline, where I was able to get fairly good views through the now steadily falling rain. Closer inspection reveals the striking black markings. Sadly, on my ‘record’ shot – grey lake, grey sky, bare black trees, a few black blobs (coots) on the lake – no smew is visible. Still, I know he was there, and I had a successful journey out (and back), which has been a tremendous confidence booster.
Lapwing Hall Lake
To explain about smew for anyone who is unfamiliar with them: they are a diving duck and one of the ‘sawtooth’ family. They can pop up almost anywhere around the British Isles in the winter, even on small inland lakes like Lapwing Hall Lake, but on average only 125 birds do now winter here, and these are more often the females and juveniles, so this male is a marvellous surprise for local birders. I wonder what tales it could tell of the taiga forests of Russia and northern Scandinavia where it spends its summers, nesting in tree holes and hunting for aquatic organisms. Climate change has reduced the numbers that travel this far, but a really cold spell will push them further south.
Two ‘redhead’ smew have been lingering at this lake for a while now, which may be why the male decided to alight here. Females and juveniles are less colourful, and are referred to as ‘redheads’ as they are very similar and thus difficult to tell apart (like the females and juveniles a number of other species). They are obviously less keen to emerge from the shelter of the shoreline, and could – at this distance and through rain-speckled binoculars – be any of a number of dark shapes on the water.
Redhead smew – image by MPF, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Two days later, just as I’m writing this blog post, in fact, news comes that the birds flew south west this morning, in atrocious weather. Phew! Thank goodness I went to see them when I did – and what a shame for any birders who are planning on going for them this weekend.
Addendum: then they returned!
For more about smew: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/waterfowl/smew