My enjoyment of winter wildlife continues, a nice bonus to have so many exciting and interesting things to do at this time of the year. Yesterday's smew pictures were OK but with better light and patience, I knew I would do better. Patience and Perseverance Pay off! The three P's!

The day arrived with snow still inches deep and driving conditions hard on the minor roads, particularly outside my house. I dragged myself away from the Blackcaps and Redwings in the garden and went back to the canal to put my three "p's" in to practice. I arrived on the canal side car park, still the only one to have braved it………… and it was good to be on my own to be frank.  I scanned the frozen canal, but more specifically the unfrozen pool to see what it contained, no Smew here but lots of coot. It really was a strange, silent experience walking along the icy canal in the snow.  The first thing that I noticed was lots of tracks across the ice,………… otters! This was confirmed when I found a lovely patch of green snow which turned out to be spraint, confirmed by that characteristic smell.  Knowing otters like I now do, made me wonder how many people would be missing these very obvious signs.  This is probably the best time to be finding otter tracks and spraint, so obvious right now what with the green snow and really noticeable tracks which normally would take a bit of spotting.

At the second pool there was a hundred or so ducks including Gadwall and Tufted Duck as well as dozens of Coot.  Amongst them was a single Smew!  Unfortunately, just at that moment I was joined by a walker and this was just too much for the Smew and it left promptly! I stood chatting to my new friend,  and we shared life stories and obviously the Smew wasn't coming back.  Eventually he left, and the Smew came back almost immediately. If you ever needed a lesson in being quiet and still, then this is it. I took a considerable amount of pictures in the hope that I could get at least one or two good ones, but more importantly, I was able to study behaviour and feeding habits.  I watched it diving and then eventually, pandemonium  broke out as the Smew surfaced with a big fat perch. It scurried across the water, chased by an entourage of beggars.

A couple of times it emerged from the water on to the ice and gave me a good show but it quickly returned to the water. My 300m lens was only just  good enough, it's a funny thing the way that birds just seem to stay just that too far from the lens you have fitted, or is it Murphy's law!