A freezing day day began with a gaudy sunrise, the shepherd's warning of foul weather to come. Thanks to David, who took this picture while I was still in a warm bed.
There was quite a heavy snowfall in the morning. This is a view from the Queen's Temple down to the Long Water.
The waterfowl were getting well sprinkled. An Egyptian Goose ...
... a Shoveller ...
... and a Gadwall cruised around at the Vista.
Several of the Grey Herons on the island were in their nests.
Many of the land birds were sheltering, and not to be seen. The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull, finding no pigeons, pecked irritably at the snow.
Black-Headed Gulls poked around beside the Diana memorial fountain. They seemed to be finding something.
So did a Magpie near the Lido.
There were plenty of people getting takeaway drinks and snacks at the Lido restaurant, and the Starlings were waiting for scraps.
A Wood Pigeon perched on a stump.
A Robin crept out from under a bush ...
... and there were some larvae for it to find.
In the afternoon the snow turned to sleet, and hungry Great Tits came out as usual.
There were some imaginative creations: a happy snowwoman ...
... a snowgirl in a bikini ...
... and a group including a snowcat and perhaps a crested snowbird.
Lovely snow images, some of them astonishing, like the snow-covered Egyptian, but I imagine the reality must not nhave been so glamorous. Poor birds, and poor Ralph, whom I imagine shivering with the cold.
ReplyDeleteI'm not good at cold weather, but a ridiculous quantity of clothes and electric hand warmers make it tolerable.
DeleteSome great photos there Ralph. Don't think I've seen one before like the one with the Egyptian Goose with the snow on its back.
ReplyDeleteI managed to get about 90 minutes of birding done on my local patch before the blizzard started.
I only made it once round the lake before I came in from the sleet.
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