Slush

For a period of about an hour this morning it actually snowed. I was in Bush Wood looking and listening for Firecrest and Treecreeper, neither of which I detected. These are usually January stalwarts but this year it is looking like they might be February birds. Hope so, February is otherwise looking rather bleak.

When the snow started I left Bush Wood and went out onto Wanstead Flats. The wide open space is where I would best see the flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover as they flopped in from the white and frozen countryside.... Anyway, instead I found myself at the pond taking photos of the ducks in quite heavy snow. The diving ducks kept their backs clear of ice by virtue of it all coming off when they submerged, but the dabblers, Geese and Swans all developed a nice white crust. Shows quite how good their insulation is.

Needless to say the temperature changed slightly and the falling snow turned to cold rain, the wafer-thin covering of ice developing at the margins vanished, and the nice white covering that for a brief moment made Jubilee Pond look less scummy than it is rapidly turned to slush. As I type there is barely any hint of any white in my garden, I think that because I was out I simply missed it. Still it was nice to be outside in it while it lasted, snow continues to be a singularly rare event here.