Lonely tree

Fortunately we missed the worst of the snow, as we had to drive to Spalding this morning to meet the estate agent - only one heavy snow flurry and the roads were all fine, albeit rather slushy in places. She ran through all the paperwork and then measured up the rooms and took the photographs that will be used for marketing. I was glad she had a thick coat and scarf on as the house was freezing!

I dithered about whether to drive back home via the Welland Bank, but decided it would be safe, and a lot more pleasant than the A16 with its thundering lorries. No barn owl today (thank you for all the stars and hearts) but a great white egret flew straight towards the car - my 72nd bird of the year - but not one I could photograph.

We stopped a couple of times on the way back to take a few photographs, The fens were looking so bleak. I can scarecely imagine how difficult it must have been surviving winters here in the past - the constant cold and wet, day after day, combined with biting east winds, would certainly make me very miserable. 

Apart from the great white egret, the high spot of our journey was seeing three roe deer in the distant fields (see extra). This is our most common native deer, and tends to be solitary in summer, but forms small, loose groups in winter. It used to be scarce locally, but in recent years the fenland populations has grown, and they are seen quite frequently.



I'd wondered