I managed to catch up with the Grey Phalarope at Daventry Country Park this evening, although it was along the western shoreline and therefore showing distantly from the dam. Low light conditions, coupled with too long a range, ensured digiscoping was not an option so I have included below an image by Bob Bullock, captured yesterday in the remnants of late afternoon sunlight.

This is the first in Northants since September 2007, when singles visited Thrapston GP and Clifford Hill GP and the record prior to those was in 2003. This is a first-winter, aged by dark crown feathers, dark tertials and all-dark bill. What a nice bird! Next one due in 2015, then …