Wingbeats...

When I woke up there was just a touch of warm colour in the sky; the prospect of a sunrise got me out of bed and dressed in record time. We haven't seen a glimpse of the sun for over a week and I'm definitely getting SAD...

Unfortunately it was well below freezing and by the time I'd got the car defrosted and walked to my chosen spot, the colours were already fading. In fact the hoped for spectacle never really materialised, and I still didn't get a view of the sun.

As I was heading back I heard a swan flying up the river, and even though the camera settings were all wrong, I took a single shot. When I saw it on the screen I decided I rather liked the pattern made by the wing beats, and the subtle stripes of colour given by the river, snow and trees behind. It's certainly not a shot that could easily be repeated!

At lunchtime I took Rosie for a walk round Ferry Meadows, quite scary in places as many of the paths are now solid sheets of ice. As we were walking along the edge of Overton Lake we flushed a Jack Snipe, the first of the year, and the first I've ever seen there. Too fast to photograph though...