ID please

[lukeh]

I was walking along Hartlepool Headland near the fish quay, and saw an unusual looking seaduck. It was the size and shape of a Common Scoter, and was dark in colour (either black or very dark brown), but had white patch on its chest that reminded me a lot of a Ring Ouzel, being at around the same place and the same size proportionally.
It wasn't a cormorant as there were some around and it was smaller. Unfortunatly didn't manage to get any shots of it before it dived out of sight. Could it have been a leucistic scoter? Any ideas?

Thanks,

Luke

[Damian]

Hi Luke,
From your description my bet would be that it was a sub-adult drake Eider.

Regards
Damian

[lukeh]

Thanks Damian