Colemere - a new Long-tailed Duck!!

Heading north for a talk, I factored in a quick hour dash around the meres this afternoon. I got bogged down at Colemere however, scoping the mere from by the car park, I could see a distant shape in amongst some Goldeneye half way across which could only be one thing - a Long-tailed Duck.... Except, this was as dark headed as the mere bird was white!! It had to be a new bird :-)

Camera at the ready, I legged it around the bank passing the sailing club and got as close as I could get - still 100-150 metres away and really mobile!

This one looks to be a female...

And typically playing hard to get, this was as close as I could get (without a boat)

A quick dash to the mere produced the 1st winter male present on the far bank so no more pics but I plan to have another go at this one over the weekend!