Smew #15

When you have a couple of hours spare in the afternoon and are wondering where to go, it would be rude not to take advantage of news of a drake Smew at Crosby Marina now wouldn't it? 
It's less than half an hour away and it would make up for missing out on the Smew at Lunt at the weekend. I wasn't too hopeful, but off we went and within 5 minutes of arriving, we were on to the bird straight away - right in the middle of the Marine lake - despite there being nobody else pointing either scopes or cameras at it. I was surprised how few people there were looking for it, but then maybe it's the same bird that was at Lunt a few miles away and they've all seen it already? 
We watched it for about 10 minutes, preening, diving and generally hanging around out of reach of all but the longest of lenses.  A couple of goldeneyes came along and it seemed happy for a little while and then all of a sudden it flew off in the direction of Seaforth docks with one of the goldeneyes. I took lots of shots, all distant, so today's blip is massively cropped, but at least I can now say I've seen a Smew - a very handsome bird I think. 
Whilst we were waiting for it to return - it didn't - I was photographing a little egret and as it moved, another bird came into view on a rock behind it - a kingfisher! The egret flapped it's wings and the kingfisher flew off to some railings by the café - you can see it in extras if you like. 
A lovely couple of hours in beautiful winter sunshine - I'm a happy lady today :))