Walking in a winter wonderland

It was a cold and frosty morning, …well actually this blog is about two cold and frosty mornings as the photos are from my last two visits to Stocker’s Lake. Both times it has been cold, very cold, -2 and -4, with frost and snow on the ground and the canal and the lake largely frozen.

I have talked about the appeal of the springtime contrast of azure blue, skies and water and the bright green leaves, trees and reeds in this blog before but the wintertime contrast of white and the same azure blue is not far behind in beauty.

Though, the lower temperatures and the frozen lake meant that there are less water birds and in turn that meant I got round the lake in less time, something which the chill compounded.

While there aren’t some many birds to see there is still plenty to enjoy what one walker I met called "this winter wonderland”; The frosty white encrusted leaves with now more prominent veins,

the icy lake topped with ‘footprints’

the beautiful stark landscape which just project a feeling of coldness. (I was going to say “radiate coldness” but somehow that sounded like a contradiction.)

As ever a visit to the lake is also a break, a quiet haven, a place to stop and breathe – something particularly welcome in a period that has been stressful and quite intense.

This change of scenery with its ever changing scenery has become such a sanctuary for me that it seems strange to me now that before I started coming 2 , 2½ years ago it was somewhere I had only visited once or twice in 20 years.

Having said there were less birds doesn’t mean there weren’t any birds and I’m quite pleased with one or two of the two shots especially the quizzical robin who seems to be thinking ‘how come I can walk on water?’

and the flight of shovelers which I managed to capture in flight - along with the attendant tufted ducks

Herons as ever continue to fascinate me and I can’t resist snapping yet more pictures of them. Having talked before about their colouring, their posture more recently the large yellow eyes have been a draw.