It may be an appalling photo, but at least I know what it is - taken with an iPhone through a Swarovski 10x42 EL binocular, and heavily cropped in, it is none other than a female Red-breasted Merganser on the Thames at Rainham Marshes yesterday. A very bizarre record for mid-June, it was actually a patch tick for me - my 180th species at the site - so thanks to Andy Tweed for the call. Somehow I expected that mini-milestone to be a little more glamorous, maybe involving an American wader or perhaps a Great Egret, but the ways things are at present I'll take any patch tick that's going - it's my 132nd species at Rainham this year but the first addition for something like a month.
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