I'm no Bambi!

It was absolutely wonderful to see my two chums again and they both gave me such a fabulous welcome. Apparently they had both been on their best behaviour and my friends were sad to see them returned to me so I felt very proud of them! Once I had collected them I took them up to the moor for a good romp so they could get used to being with each other again - Bruce just loves the one-to-one attention he gets from my friend and is always a wee bit territorial when he returns! It was so good to be back in the hills again although it was really cold and a freezing mist lay over much of the frozen landscape making it difficult for my camera to focus so i concentrated on images closer to hand. I had a few of the frost on bracken and cones but liked this shot best where I had hoped to capture a Bambi moment as Cara headed for the iced-over pond which she usually wallows in. Instead she was clever and decided that a high jump was a more dignified approach to the icy patch.

While I was watching the dogs having fun I was aware of movement amongst the frozen bracken and this robin appeared and darted about close to us, totally unafraid of the dogs. He was obviously very hungry.

This morning I refilled my bird feeders as there wasn't a morsel left for them to eat. I also checked my pond and as it was totally frozen over, I poured enough hot water in to make a small breathing hole through the two inch depth of ice and then covered this with a polystyrene do-nut designed to keep an ice free area. Although I know this is not ideal, introducing hot water, but a few years ago I found 11 dead frogs in the bottom of the pond when it eventually thawed out and I don't want the same again. I lost eight fish when I was away in Las Vegas in October - a visiting heron I suspect - but still have one fish left so I hope he is still surviving