That ice is cold!!

A perfect winter day, mostly spent outdoors. I started with a very frosty morning walk through Thorpe Hall and down to the river. I briefly saw our local kingfisher, but didn't manage to get any images. However, just a little further down the stream there was the strong musky smell of fox. I stopped and looked round and immediately spotted a dog fox, sitting among the pond-sedge, watching me. We both stared at each other and I managed to get a few shots before it slunk away.

The backwater to the river was completely frozen over today, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird scurry across the ice and into the marginal vegetation. My immediate thought was water-rail, so I headed to the opposite bank and waited. It spent a long time skulking in the vegetation, preening its feather, but my patience was rewarded when it emerged and walked off across the ice.

After a mid-morning herb tea, Chris and I headed out on a wild waxwing hunt. There was no sign of them where they'd been reported, so we decided to go on to the Nene Washes and see what was about. The car-park was again full of middle-aged men with huge telescopes, but we walked along the Barrier Bank, heading west this time. Everything was very frozen and there didn't seem to be that much about. But in the end we saw twelve distant common cranes, a rough-legged buzzard fighting with a marsh harrier and a herd of four roe deer. And the sense of space and light, all brilliantly gold and blue, was worth the trip whether or not there had been any birds!