Ice ferns

The coldest November night I can remember! When we went out at 10.30am to walk the dogs it was still -3.5C, and the car windows were beautifully patterned with ice and frost. I never get tired of looking at the shapes made by ice crystals, so tried taking a photograph. The background of the first one didn't work - too pale and busy - so I asked Pete to stand behind the window, and his dark fleece provided just the right contrast!

We had a lovely icy walk along the River Nene from Castor Station to Wansford Station. We were amazed to find that there was a thin film of ice across the river from the Waternewton lock to the weir where a backwater branches off, a distance of several hundred metres. At the moment this stretch of river has very little flow, and this, together with the lack of a breeze, means that ice has been able to form. This is the first time I've seen the main river frozen like this in over twenty years! Another sign of the cold was the large number of fieldfares, all gorging themselves on the hawthorn berries, though none came near enough for a photograph.