Curling Pond

Jeez, that was a bit nippy...

Having been cooped up indoors (nice and cosy) I decided to take a bit of a walk around the local nature reserve (village pond). The walk down was a bit like a very, very low scoring Torvill and Dean ice-dance routine as I struggled to remain vertical.

I was hoping that some of the wildlife would have returned but, on first look, all that was there were these optimistic gulls hoping for a quick thaw so they could get to the thousands of bits of bread that were encased in the ice. Wasn't going to happen with the icy wind that was blowing the clouds across the forty watt sun.

But... I did find out where the two swans and mallards were hiding through this cold snap; there's a small feeder pond attached to the main pond that's, for some reason, ice-free, and this is where they're all crammed in together. It's well protected with a fence and the reeds are keeping them hidden from the numpties and ne'er do wells that shuffle boldly across the ice.

Checking up on some local history it would seem this type of cold snap may have happened more regularly in the recent past as the Delph pond is listed as being a curling pond through the winter. Having stepped gingerly on the ice today and, looking at the picture, seeing how 'lumpy' the ice is (that's all ice in there not water), I'm not sure if it would serve that purpose so well this season.

Anyway, back home nice and cosy now (snowing again outside though) and my ear-cicles have just about thawed out :-)