Apple jabbing

A male blackbird on his toes poised to jab his bill into an apple on the ice outside our back door. The blackbirds do love apples, and they are getting through several a day in the garden.

Although much of the snow and ice has slowly disappeared over the last few days, it persists in this north side of the garden. I went for a walk around the headland today, it was so grey that at times it was difficult to distinguish sky from the water that was filling Morecambe Bay. The tide was full as I made my way along the south shore of the Kent back towards Arnside, at one stage I had to get on my hands and knees for fear of slipping over on the ice and sliding into the water.

I've had a couple of busy days at work with limited opportunities for getting out for a photograph. So I missed being able to blip the freezing rain of Thursday, when everything including the car was covered in a veneer of ice. Yesterday I was in Manchester all day, and I was so tired at the end of the day that I fell asleep on what is one of the most uncomfortable trains left on the rail network. Thank goodness for weekends.

I spent the afternoon in front of the fire watching the rugby with England scraping to a victory against Italy in Rome.