A couple of weeks of below zero temperatures is starting to take it's toll. It was again beautiful sunshine but freezing, and there was a slight frozen mist. I just went for a walk from the house this morning for a couple of hours from 9.30. (It was too cold before this) !
In many places it looked like there was snow on the ground, but it was just frost and ice. Perhaps unsurprisingly there was less birdlife than last week. A
Marsh Tit was calling away on the track down past the first farm, and a
Siskin flock of 30+ birds were in the alders near the first stream along with a
Coal Tit. Other than several
Robins and
Song Thrush I was seeing very little , a
Common Buzzard flew over and a
Pheasant stood in the track. A
Nuthatch was seen but unusually silent on the way to the furnace pond. The pond was completely frozen I decided to walk to the far side where it is fed by a stream but completely overgrown, 2
Grey Herons flew out then there was a commotion as I approached and I disturbed around 40
Mallard, 8 Teal and 6
Mandarin that were hiding in the partly frozen undergrowth.
A
Bullfinch was the only addition on the way back. Again a pleasant walk with little activity.
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| It looked like snow but just frost and ice |
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| There has been no thaw for several days |
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| Furnace pond was completely frozen |
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| This area at the back of the pond was where the duck were hiding. |
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| Some streams were still running but low levels of water |
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