Merganzer

During a walk around Westport Lake we spotter a lone Merganser on the water.  This is an unusual bird at this location.

Mergansers are fish eaters, usually seen on rivers and occasionally lakes.  They are often in small groups and can hunt co-operatively to catch small fish.

This appears to be a young bird which has settled here for a while.  The fish in the lake will support Great Crested Grebes and the occasional Cormorant, so a Merganser should be good to feed here.

This one was clearly staking a claim, giving other small water birds an aggressive snap if they came too close.