Puzzling merganser

During a brief spot of reasonable weather a couple of weeks ago, a stunning red breasted merganser dropped in at our local patch. Due to the great distance from the sea this was a rare sighting. The evening light allowed for great views of its metallic plumage. This male saw-bill had arrived with a female goosander instead of another merganser, which caused the female to lose interest in him quite quickly, but they both hung around for about a week.

In addition to this the merganser was becoming more desperate and he decided to display to a mute swan. This unusual behaviour was incredible to watch since the swan also appeared to be responding to the display.

I was lucky to get that footage and I hope that the merganser had better luck elsewhere.