12th Jan:I have been birding now for a little over 50 years and in that time I have gathered together a wish-list of my favourite birds… some birds I have never seen and some that I would like to see on a regular basis year in year out. Birds that I never tire of watching; one, being Smew… especially the males or White Nun. They belong to the sawbill family – a small group of diving duck. However the ‘White Nun’ must be one of the prettiest ducks we have in Europe … pure white with a black bandit mast and grey vermiculation down the flanks. I only saw my first Smew back in January 1985 – nearly 40 years ago!! And since then I have only seen them on 3 occasions at the most. But then the ‘duck’ was broken back in December 2023!! Well this week there were reports of one locally at North Yorkshire Water Park just off the A170 Pickering /Scarborough road a chance to good to miss. Frustratingly the earliest I could go was Friday ….. but I needn’t have worried… 10 minutes after arrival there it was …. Brilliant views of a male Smew swimming serenely in North Yorkshire!! What a brilliant afternoon!!
13th Jan: I had arranged a birding day out with my birding mate Graham; unbelievably one of the birds we were hoping to see was a pair of Smew in the Lower Derwent Valley at Thorganby just outside York off the Selby road. And you’ve guessed it both male and female Smew showed really well.Two male Smew on consecutive days in Yorkshire … amazing. The rest of the day was spent having a good check of the waterfowl and we turned up some really good birds such as: Whooper Swan,Pochard and Pintail. From the L.D.V. … Lower Derwent Valley we drove over to the R.S.P.B reserve at Bempton Cliffs. We had a good walk around the reserve – the highlights been two short-eared Owls, however the light was going quickly and the birds soon left. But it was still great to see them.
Great couple of days the Smew been the highlight by far … By the way I take no credit for the headline … ‘Happy Smew Year’ …. I remember seeing it written somewhere so whoever thought this one up … Many thanks and very suitable for this post.
