A Smew at Bowyer's Lake

8th December 2025

A dull and damp day but a male Smew had been reported at Bowyer's Water. It was nowhere to be seen when I first arrived, but I eventually found it asleep close in to one of the islands some 80 yards away. It drifted around there for a while, but then got disturbed and began to wake up and swim around. In fact it started swimming towards me, unfortunately just as it started raining.

The rain passed after about 10 minutes and I was able to grab some shots while it was just 40 yards away and in a brief period of sunshine.

The bird had quite a bit of brown in the plumage and I therefore assumed it was a 1st winter male.

However, some of the shots showed it had distinctive black lines running down the back of the head which are characteristic of an adult male moulting out of eclipse plumage.

What a cracking bird, but sad we only get low numbers in the Lea Valley these days, compared to the double figures we used to get at Amwell alone 20 years ago.