The Smew in Dorset

Smew (Mergus albellus) are members of the sawbill or merganser group of ducks; they are small diving ducks that can occasionally be found on lakes or in sheltered coastal water in Dorset in winter.  They are more likely to be seen further east and in some winters we do not see them at all here. Like many ducks they breed in the Arctic and many spend the winter on the northern coasts of Europe and they are not really common anywhere in Britain.

In the time I have been collecting data for the Nature of Dorset (and that was from 1st January 2017) until the time of writing in autumn 2019 there have been reports of just one bird in January 2017 in Holes Bay in Poole Harbour so that shows how scarce they are here in Dorset.