Friday 16 December 2022

Friday Photo #31

We may have dodged the heavy snow that blanketed so much of the country over the past week, but my little corner of Suffolk nevertheless felt the sharpness of winter's arrival. The temperatures have been hovering around zero and there was a severe hoar frost on Sunday that made everything look stunningly beautiful, though I'll admit that beauty hasn't been at the forefront of my mind at 5.15 every morning as I've hacked away at my ice encased car.

The river that forms the border between Suffolk and Norfolk flows 100 yards from my front door and I spend a lot of time over there, clearing my mind and keeping my eyes open for any interesting wildlife that might be about. Kingfishers are a regular, if fleeting sight, whizzing by a couple of feet above the water in a silver blue blur. On Sunday, however, set against the heavily frosted trees, these remarkable birds lost their usual camouflage and I was able to observe several of them quite extensively, sitting on overhanging branches gazing into the glass calm river and occasionally diving in to make a catch. I use the word too often I know, but the whole experience really was magical. Today's photo was snapped on Sunday, from one of my vantage points on the Norfolk bank. Unfortunately my trusty camera phone simply isn't powerful enough to actually capture a decent shot of a Kingfisher.

Cabane (featuring Kate Stables) - Now, Winter Comes

4 comments:

Ernie Goggins said...

You're a lucky man having that on your doorstep

Rol said...

Lovely picture, even without the kingfishers. I'm hoping to see a little of the winter wonderland in person this weekend as I've been stuck indoors in daylight hours all week.

Swiss Adam said...

Beautiful pic Swede. We had snow at the weekend and since then a lot of frozen stuff. Up where I work, near Blackburn, its been white all week.

C said...

Gorgeous photo - it looks like a painting. Finding these constant minus figure temps really tiring even without having to commute (although I even have to take care not to fall over on my short walk from back door to Shedio) so I really sympathise with you having to de-ice your car in the mornings and take to the roads. The only good thing about these arduous icy conditions is occasional visual treats like this. A lovely big spider's web dressed in shining frosticles (?) caught my eye too the other day and I would've taken a pic, but unfortunately the wheelie bin it was attached to wasn't so photogenic!

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