Ducks Don't Like ...

... frozen ponds, apparently.

The lake in our local park is still largely frozen. Almost all the ducks (but not all the seagulls or moorhens) seem to have got off the lake and gathered here.

Here is a closer shot of some of the gaggle. (BTW Do ducks congregate in gaggles, or is that only geese? I think that Orchid99 will know the answer to that.)

The ducks didn't seem too bothered by a human close to them taking photographs, but when a dog appeared near the path, they all took off very noisily, and landed on the patch of liquid water that you can see. The few that landed on the ice made a real spectacle of themselves. skidding along.

And when we got home, we saw the moon over the fields behind our house. It was very low, very full, looking very large, and rather yellow. My little Nikon doesn't really provide direct user exposure control, which makes it difficult not to bleach out the moon (because the camera wants to bring the dark sky up to daylight brightness!). I've done my best by using as much negative exposure compensation as possible (minus two stops), but it's obviously not enough. Look at Bundle's excellent photograph from Sunday 5 February to see how it should really be done. (And note, while you are at it, how Bundle's waxing gibbous moon on Sunday has become virtually full by Tuesday.)