Diving bird for id please

[Naturenutz]

Today i found a bird on my local canal in gloucestershire i have never seen before.It was diving very often and looked grebe like.The nearest i can find in my books is a female smew,although i could not see any white on the flanks.
Can anyone confirm or otherwise please as according to my book its on the far edge of the smew wintering grounds.Also is it a common or rare bird ?
Sorry about the poor photo.
thanks
vic

[aeshna5]

It is indeed a redhead Smew. I saw a couple of this dainty sawbills at Titchwell yesterday.

[Richard G.]

Aye, there's been one up at RSPB Fairburn Ings in Yorkshire for the last few weeks too, so not so unusual to see them further north than the books suggest, perhaps more so this year because the south has been so frozen.

[htcdude]

Agreed with female Smew. Good looking birds, although not as good as the males (as it usually is in the bird world)

Nige

[solus]

Originally Posted by Naturenutz

...according to my book its on the far edge of the smew wintering grounds.Also is it a common or rare bird ?
Sorry about the poor photo.
thanks
vic

Don't take too much notice of what your book says as wintering ranges can change or alter according to weather conditions - there are always a number of these wintering in the Cotswold Water Park which isn't very far away as the duck flies! As the lakes in the CWP were almost totally frozen over for the last week or so of 2010 and the first week of this year and there was still a lot of ice present last weekend the birds will have to have moved elsewhere to find open water. I wouldn't say Smew is exactly rare but it isn't all that common either, but there are regular wintering places where they are likely to be seen so it's often just a case of going to look and being lucky when you get there! Scarce may be a better description.