Sunrise

Lovely though short lived Sunrise this morning:





The temperature dropped to -1C last night and everything was white with frost when we went for our early morning walk. I though it would be a good time to photograph some webs but surprisingly I couldn't find one.

On our walk I had a look at each roof as we passed the houses. With them being white over with frost it was easy to spot the places where leaking heat had melted it. I am always surprised how many properties are leaking heat and wasting money heating the outside air.

Monday Mystery - Guess What

First one for this year. There may not be a new one every week. It all depends whether I can find a suitable subject. That gets harder every year.

Guess What:


Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.
No prizes. Just fir fun and maybe a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.

Eeek

Not what I was hoping to see on the bird table:

Being Prepared For ........

 

Definitely hazardous walking down the lane recently. Lots of frozen puddles:





Ice right across the lane in places:

 

As the lane runs East to West the low Sun this time of year doesn't get a chance to melt it. Keeping upright on two legs used to be a problem until I found a solution a few years ago - ice spikes which I keep fitted to an old pair of shoes:

 

When I first received them I didn't think just six little tungsten carbide spikes would have the ability to stop my feet slipping. How wrong I was. Even through the spikes are short and blunt my 12 stone is more than enough to make them crunch into the hardest frozen ice.

I now keep a spare set as the spikes are very hard wearing but the rubber which stretches round the bottom and side of the shoe does wear on pavement which is ice free and eventually gets so thin it breaks. The latest ones have been re-designed so maybe they will last longer. I get at least two years use out of the original ones. Obviously that depends how often they have to be used:



I buy these from Amazon for about £9. I tried a different make with much wider rubber, plastic or whatever was used but they were a poor fit even when well stretched and tended to wobble which was no use at all.

Friday at the Flicks - A Seed Dish of Starlings

 

Winter has arrived at last. By teatime yesterday it started to snow, wet stuff at first which melted as it landed but eventually we ended up with a thin covering and by this morning the pools of water in the lane were frozen over:

   

When we got back from our early morning jaunt I topped up the seed feeders.
I wasn't a bit surprised when the brat pack invaded the seed dish on the bird table:



At last I have managed to be able to record live sound along with the video.
The harsh cackle at the end of the first clip is the sound of a Magpie.

A Splash of Early Yellow

Yesterday afternoon brought bright Sunshine but a cold breeze kept the temperature down. A quick look across the fields showed a clear view of the nodding donkey at an oil well about 2km away:



It was a bit exposed there so we nipped back to have a look in the village churchyard where the Winter Aconite were showing well:





I am usually photographing these in mid February.

Wordless Wednesday