Pack ice

The Kent Estuary at Sandside.

This is a scene that has rarely been seen before. The Kent Estuary is covered with ice from one side to the other. It follows a week of sub-zero temperatures and high tides around the full moon. The rise and fall of the tide causes the ice to break up into a jumble of blocks. Further downstream, huge sheets of ice are breaking loose and being carried down channel with the receding tides.

One local we met today said the last time the estuary looked like this was in 1978. There are pictures of this on the front page of the Westmorland Gazette, and the spectacle was drawing hundreds of people today. While temperatures hardly raised above -6 C all day, there was no wind and the sky was entirely cloudless.

Thanks you to those who viewed, commented, rated and favourited my running water rail yesterday. I must say I have been fretting about the poor bird, it will be desperately hungry in this prolonged freeze. No wonder it was behaving uncharacteristically.

Have a good and peaceful Christmas.