Sunday 6 April 2014

A late Smew

Back to North Duffield Carrs first thing but still couldn't locate a Garganey! Plenty of ducks but nothing unusual. On to East Cottingwith where the flock of Black-tailed Godwits was showing well, numbering 24. Scanning through the ducks I noticed a small grey bird sleeping on a bund. It had white on the wing and looked a bit like a Smew (I couldn't see it's head at this point) but surely not in April? After a couple of minutes, it put it's head up and sure enough it was a lovely little Smew. Nice. A little later it woke up properly and went for a swim.  This seems to be the second latest Smew in the York area, the latest being a female that resided at Castle Howard until 11 April 2008.