(margellus albellus)
The Smew is an uncommon but regular winter visitor to Scotland. Most winters there will be a handful of birds present, often at traditional locations. It is a member of the Sawbill (merganser) family, its usual breeding grounds being in tundra regions of FennoScandinavia and Russia. The male bird is a particularly handsome fellow with its white plumage and black braces. Females and juveniles are often known as red-head Smews. The most recent of these images were taken at Linlithgow Loch where all the birds had been penned into a small unfrozen patch of water in the bitter cold.