Scaly-sided (Chinese) Merganser

Mr U&L and I went out for a trip today to the Wildfowl and Wetlands trusts Arundel Wetland centre.
Arundel isn't very far from us, but I have never visited this lovely place before.
There were loads of different water fowl to photograph, and included in the entry price was a boat trip out into the reedbeds to see water voles,and kingfishers, and we weren't disappointed!
To be honest, the boardwalks, boat trips and reed beds really reminded me of the Norfolk broads, and only 25 miles down the road! I can't wait till next summer, I bet it is fantastic for dragons and Damsels.......no Swallowtails or Norfolk hawkers though.....Bother!!!!!!
I could have blipped loads of different beautiful wildfowl but in the end decided to bring you this male Scaly-sided Merganser Mergus squamatus. This beautiful bird is a rare and little known 'sawbill' of eastern Asia, which is closely related to both the Goosander and Red-breasted Merganser. This little fellow, lives in a large pond with a big colony of Long tailed ducks Clangula hymenalis. Today he was happily racing around making sure he got to eat all the fish being fed, before the long-tailed ducks even got a look in.
I guess there have to be some perks to being so far away from home and all on your own........