09/01/2026 Southport Marine Lake, Merseyside

Smew: At Southport Marine Lake when I caught up with the first winter drake smew, which was showing well on the North East side. This long staying bird has been since December and well worth a trip to see it. 

These are great birds, a small species of diving duck, often referred to as a "sawbill" due to its serrated bill, and is the only living member of the genus Mergellus. 

Smews are known for their distinctive plumage, with males appearing mostly white with black facial markings and females showing a reddish-brown headThe name "smew" is thought to have originated from Middle High German smiehe. 

13/01/2024 Lunt Meadows, Sefton ecks

Green-winged Teal: Between the family duties around the festive break and now being back at work its took me a while to get myself over to Lunt. 

This yank teal has made itself at home here for a few months now and I'm glad its stuck around so  I could go and see it. The bird was associating with the Eurasian teal on the great-white egret pool at the far end of the site. 

It eventually showed really well after drifting in from the submerged vegetaion and took a power nap on the nearside bank close to the sluice. 

Richardson's Cackling Goose: Another bird that has taken up residence at Lunt, albeit for a much short time so far is this diminutive cousin of the Canada goose, the cackling goose. With stubbier bills, steeper foreheads and a shorter neck they side by side they really do stand out.

Cackling geese that frequently in the wild in the UK, usually associate themselves with either barnacle or pink-footed geese. However there has also been a number of records of birds appearing on their own or with feral geese and these are often assumed to be escaped birds - this may be the case but it is entirely plausible that at least some are wild birds too.

Smew: A good morning spent on the reserve topped off by a drake smew, this bird initially gave me the run around and I saw it fly off from the main lake land on one of the border pools. 

11/02/2020 Bredon's Hardwick, Worcester

Smew: Living in the North West I don't often get to see drake smew, up here get a couple of redheads turn up on our lakes but its particularly rare to get a stonking male.

So it was good to get the change to catch up with one while I was working away in Tewkesbury this week.

This place was like Fort Knox with 10ft high fencing around the whole perimeter of the lake, barbed-wire and eclectic fencing and the only edge that you can view the lake due to public access has a 6ft high Leylandii hedge!!!  Its only fish!

Despite the unwelcoming, locked down conditions of the lake the bird showed pretty well, if a little too far for some decent images.

So here's a few images of a drake smew I took at Slimbridge WWT the same day. In these images you can see their saw like bill and their white crests.

These really are distinctive, dapper little ducks. With their punky head feather crests, black mask and cracked white plumages they really stand out.

07/02/2016 Abberton Reservoir, Colchester, Essex

Drake Smew: There are a few things I really do cherish, family, Dawn and birding so mixing all three on my recent trip to Essex was great.

Dawn and I traveled down to see Eddie Izzard, a childhood favourite of mine who was performing at the Palace Theatre London so we thought we would stay at my mums in Essex.

We drove straight to Colchester hoping to get a lot closer to drake Smew than I have before, but was a little disappointed as the birds were still a little way off.

In the end I counted 3 redheads (females) and 2 drake (males).

Grey Phalarope: Although the Smew kept their distance we struck lucky as while we enjoyed a slice of lemon drizzle and a cup of tea we were informed that a grey phal had turned up.

Apparently the day before a Sanderling was reported this was not really chased up and the old regulars were saying it was probably the grey phal.

So once I finished my amazing slice of cake I made my way down to Gwen's Hide where the bird was busily feeding on the edge of the reservoir.

Again the bird was distant but a great year tick and a great record to see for Abberton.

24/12/2014 Hanley Central Park, Staffordshire

Smew: A nice little Christmas Eve treat!

Before the big day and the Christmas family trips and visits I decided to try and get some better images of a Smew after only getting very poor images from Cheshire's bird.

So I drove down to Hanley where there had been one knocking about for a few weeks, however the sun today was awful and the light on the pond was terrible.





So todays results were a little better than last week, but there is still a lot of room to improve.

By far my favourite sawbill, but I'm still chasing the snow white male!

19/12/2014 Newchurch Common, Cheshire

Smew: Nice to catch up with Cheshire's female Smew, with it being literally on the way to work, and December being such a manic month I haven't had the opportunity 

It was also nice to catch up with Rob Morsley who like I spent some time scanning through the big flocks of Wigeon and Coot in search of the bird. 

After a long and muddy walk around the lake we finally pinned the bird down - if however a little distant. 

03/12/2012 Moore Nature Resreve

Smew: (female) My first Smew, ok it's not a stunning white cracked porcelain male but a red headed female and the pics aren’t great as the birds was staying some distance away from the lens but never the less a great bird.

It was a busy bird, feeding along the far side of the bank at the Phoenix Hide it seemed to be hanging around with the Tufted Ducks.


Other birds to note were Willow Tit, Reed Bunting, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a number of Jays at the feeding station which was nicely stocked up!




I was suprised how samll this bird actualy is, only a little bigger then a Little Grebe must by far the samllest of the saw billed ducks. I know this stunning duck is a winter visitor but I was suprised to read (BTO) that their UK population is only 180 individuals.



Green Woodpecker: Another good tick of the day had to be this Green Woodie which was feeding on the grass bank at the foot of the Phoenix Hide. I must have missed it as I only caught it as it flew in to an old dead tree.