Wicken Fen - Cock-up Bridge

Only time for a short walk today, but enjoyable nevertheless on a chilled, clear day.   There wasn't that much to see, and certainly not close at hand.  A tripod sometimes seems an encumbrance, but it is so necessary, particularly when the wildlife is at a distance, and I didn't have one today!   Still, a Blue Tit feeding was close enough.

Two Shovelers, one needing to have a scratch

Blue Tit enjoying a winter feed

Not often does a bird fly towards the camera, but this Fieldfare did!

Quy Fen - winter morning

The temperature for the whole of the walk was below freezing which created an atmospheric mist hanging over the field which was being ploughed.   Nearby there was plenty of agricultural activity with the collection of sugar beet involving a fleet of lorries, starting with someone filling a hopper which was filling a conveyor belt which was filling the lorries with the beet.   And then off to the A10 and/or A14 to the sugar factory either at Wissington or Bury St Edmunds I would guess.

Quy Fen was frozen in the main and provided some attractive landscapes with powerful cloud reflections.

Milton Country Park

Nothing of note to photograph except the colour of morning on a cold winter's day.

A quick glance could lead one to think about there being snow on the mountains in the background

This first panoramic view chopped off the tall grasses on the left hand side

This panoramic view includes the tops of the tall grasses but isn't that balanced a composition.   More to learn...............

Roe Deer near the Research Park

To reinforce the discipline of keeping the blog going, here are some images which I wouldn't rate highly as photographs, but they are going to be able to record where I walked the dogs and the conditions.

The light was behind the deer initially and produced this contre jour image, with the light also catching on the long grasses

A bit unsettled at this point and thinking about disappearing

Checking us out to see if we were threatening

By this time the light had moved round and brought a lovely warm colour to the deers' coats

That wind!

On leaving home there was a very strong wind blowing, and no chance of any bird photography.   Everything which might have flown had sought cover except for some Coots which bobbed about on The Cam near Clayhithe on what was virtually 'white water'.

Thankfully I did take some waterproof clothing but even that couldn't withstand the battering of wind and rain which soaked both the dogs and me.    Even the dogs objected to the conditions!   The only thing to do was to head for home, have another shower and set about a bowl of porridge.

The lower branches of this Willow tree were like a curtain of colour.

This may look like mist but is in fact rain being blown almost horizontally across fields.

On the Bus

As I'm hoping to use this blog as a way of capturing the year photographically, I need to photograph events which wouldn't necessarily warrant a photograph or use different techniques by way of experimentation.

Here are three images which had some Silver Efex treatment and which record my return on the Park & Ride bus to the Milton terminus.

 I seem to have managed to display these images as I had intended!

Milton Country Park - Late Afternoon

The car was being MOT tested in the village, so I took the dogs for an afternoon walk in Milton Country Park at the time the sun was going down.   Such lovely colours and reflections on this calm but wintery afternoon.

Anglesey Abbey Winter Garden

The day was very cold and foggy but a walk in the Abbey's Winter Garden turned out to be a good idea.   There is a lot of colour in this garden from the selected stems and trunks and some flowering plants and shrubs.

 Although it looks as though there are water droplets on some blooms, they are drops of ice which hadn't thawed out at all yesterday.

  Who would have expected daffodils to be out in early January!   

Lode Mill had lots of atmosphere with the persistent fog and cold.

Cold, frosty morning

To avoid clearing the car windscreen of a hard frost, I took the dogs around the fields adjacent to home.    Some cold scenes seen and some detail of how heavy the frost was.

I have seen a Kingfisher purposefully flying along this ditch on several occasions and in either direction.   I hope it will be in evidence during the summer.

The trees appearing alongside
featured in a panel of images I used a while ago.   On that occasion they were covered in snow and their delicacy was further enhanced.