Smew View

It's the first time that we've been to Fishers Green since I injured my leg tumbling into a ditch in the dark before Christmas. I walked very gingerly in the rain. 

We met a lovely friendly young man who told me that he lives on a boat. Ollie dog loved his dog Eli, strange name for a bitch. (Extras) I told him that I'd heard that a smew had been seen. He walked on ahead but we caught up with him as he had stopped and was looking through his binoculars. He called to me that he thought he could see the smew. Sure enough it was a redhead (female). He was excited as he'd never seen one before. It was late in the afternoon and the light was awful so my pic is rubbish but I enjoyed the encounter with this uncommon little duck. Notice how much smaller than the mallard the redhead is.