Night snow

I forced myself out for a walk this afternoon - we've had no more snow since yesterday's downfall and many areas had been blown bare. The remaining snow had mostly acquired a rather grubby looking surface layer which made it less visually appealing. I  contemplated a walk along the Nene at Castor, but the car-park was treacherous so I returned to the Rowing Lake.

Everything seemed a bit dull, but the cold weather had brought some more unusual birds in.There were six shoveler on the lake itself, along with a scatter of common gulls, and I saw several teal on the river. Their favoured pool, a bit upstream, is almost certainly frozen solid. But the most exciting moment was when a woodcock almost landed in front of me - taking off again as soon as it realised I was there. It's the first one I've seen on that stretch of river for many years.

As I was returning to the car I spotted a pair of swans mating on the backwater - the weather hasn't cooled their ardour. After a short post-coital display both swans decided to move back to the main herd in the Rowing Lake. They seem to find the slippery snow as troublesome as we do, and the cob in the extra slithered down the bank before landing in the water with a splash.

In the late afternoon it started to snow again and I hurriedly drove to Sainsbury's to re-stock the cupboards. The snow continued steadily for several hours, and we ended up with about 12 cm. The picture shows part of our patio at just after 8.30 p.m. Shortly after this I went for a walk round the block - the air was filled with glittering snowflakes making even our ordinary streets seem quite magical (see extra).