Ice

Thornhope beck at Wolsingham in Weardale was full of beautiful ice formations this afternoon, especially where the water level had dropped, leaving ice crystals suspended between the stones.

Some fine icicles hanging from the river bank too.

It's an ill wind, etc., etc.

Bad weather sometimes brings unusual birds into our small suburban garden, but this moorhen that arrived the morning was a real surprise. We are a mile from anything that could be described as moorhen habitat, with a lot of roads and housing in between, so it must have been flying over and just dropped in.

First it had a mooch around the flower beds, then ....

...... failed to find anything interesting on the snow-covered lawn ....

.... so then it came right up to the house to pick up food that had fallen from the bird table. I hoped that it might fly up there so I could honestly boast that 'we had a moorhen on our bird table' - but no luck.

So then it just ambled down the garden path .....

.... leaving a distinctive set of arrow-shaped footprints in the snow, 

then ....

.... paused to glance into the pond, which was covered with an inch of ice, before disappearing into the garden next door.

Waders on a winter afternoon

Spent a very pleasant hour watching waders - sanderling, ringed plover and redshank - at Whitburn rocks near Sunderland yesterday. Nothing rare or unusual, just glorious sunshine, crystal-clear air, and the sounds of the surf and the waders' calls. 

The seaside in winter is a great place to be on days like that.