It may only be the 5th February and the temperature hovering around 5 degrees Celsius but with the sun out today there is a very hesitant feeling of early spring down the lane.
I heard a red kite calling overhead and a robin singing away. There are snowdrops scattered about and daffodils sprouting from the ground. Even the fields seem a little greener than they did.
However, despite the slight warmth coming from the sun, the chilling breeze stops too much hopefulness of the coming season building up – and we’re back to frosts tonight.
Today has been one of those cloudless but cold winter days which you long for through the almost endless grey cloudy dreariness of January. The sun seems shockingly bright, especially as it hangs low in the sky, dazzling your eyes and making you squint. The morning started with a slight frost and the temperature barely above freezing. There was a think layer of ice on the puddles and a real nip in the air. A sharp wind occasionally added to the chill but as we went for a walk the sun soon warmed us up as our dark clothes soaked in its rays.
Our walk wasn’t too long, only four miles but it gave us some different views of our local area, having not walked any of the particular paths before. The wildlife was quite quiet but for a flock of winter thrushes in the fields joined by some starlings and an occasional sky lark.
After what seemed like a long and dark week, getting out into the bright daylight was a bit of a tonic – unfortunately back to the greyness tomorrow.
At some point in January, as early as possible, I usually take a trip to a good wildlife spot to try to kick-off my lists for the year. Quite often this means heading east into the Fens or beyond on to North Norfolk. Yesterday, our choice was the Wildlife & Wetlands Trust’s centre at Welney. This reserve sits on the Ouse Washes; a huge flood management area around 30km long and, at its widest, almost 1km wide. It is the winter home to a great number of resident and migrant wildfowl and a brilliant place to start building up a list of species seen over the course of the year.
Yesterday was a typical January day in the Fens; cold, not far off zero degrees Celsius, with low, dark grey cloud and a mistiness hanging over the land. The light breeze was barely be felt with our backs but added a further chill when walking into it, taking the damp cold off the flooded washes and flat waterlogged fields, and seeping in through any gaps in our clothing.
Standing at the edge of the Washes, the flood water from the River Ouse covered almost every inch of the ground, leaving only small islands, the tops of fencing and gates, and the tall patches of reeds standing above the surface. On that surface was a spectacular congregation of wildfowl including all three British species of swan, numerous species of duck and a range of waders. Many of these can be seen at the wetland reserves closer to home but for some a visit to Welney and other East Anglia reserves is a must.
I particularly wanted to see the swans and was rewarded both at Welney and in the fields on the way. The Whooper Swans from Iceland are the most numerous but, as was the case when we visited last year, numbers were down significantly from previous times I’ve been there. The Bewick’s Swans are generally less numerous at the reserve and I haven’t seen any there, or anywhere else for a number of years. However, yesterday we saw one single bird out in the distance.
After wandering to the different hides along the bank about the water, we went for a walk around the Lady Fen trail to see what else we could spot. Like the weather, the life out on the fields was subdued and there was little to see apart from three species of egret and groups of corvids. We have seen owls on this walk before but had no luck this time, meaning a visit to the Nene Washes might be in order (it’s often possible to see four species in a short stop there). We also had two new species of mammal for the year; nice groups of Roe Deer and a single Chinese Water Deer out on the damp fields amongst the shallow flooded scrapes.
Overall, we saw 60 species of bird at the reserve and I’m sure we could have picked up a few more if we had stayed a little longer but the cold and gloom eventually got the better of us and we turned for home.
Finally, winter is showing itself. We have had sub-zero nighttime temperatures for a few days now and they look set to go on for a few more. We have had a few short spells of snow; some accumulated but each time was quickly gone. The frost is less transitory; in those pockets of shade out of reach of the weak new year sun, the ice sticks around well into the afternoon, and in some places, all day long.
The land seems subdued by the cold, and the wildlife hushed. On my lunchtime walk down the lane, there wasn’t much life about but for a small number of winter thrushes and a buzzard gliding low across the sheep fields. The only other sign of the wild was the faint scent of a fox, left behind as it wandered past last night.
I love the bright and cold days that make such a change to the grey dreariness we so often get in English winters. I’m glad to be working from home today so I can go for that walk but back to the office tomorrow – on a Friday!
Just as I was blocking out the last of a bleak mid-winter day, I noticed that the fog that had stubbornly hung around all day was finally starting to shift. Our house looks out over two shallow valleys (at least when the leaves aren’t on the trees) and I could see the tops of those valleys starting to peak out from above the fog. So I quickly put on my jacket and boots and walked down to the end of the lane to look over the fields and see if I could get some suitably wintry dusk photos. I’m quite pleased with the results below, showing how the increasing breeze was blowing the fog away…
It’s definitely a day for staying indoors. We woke to the forecast snow with the unusually bright light peaking in past our curtains. The light was from the snow on the ground and trees rather than the sun as that was obscured by a heavy and dripping fog cloaking the land.
The snow itself, the second fall of the winter (we missed the first while we were in Ecuador), wasn’t that lovely crisp white snow that squeakily crunches as you walk through it but that nasty wet and slushy snow that mixes with mud and turns to chilling puddles far too quickly.
The weather is bleak and so is the day, the last of a lovely Christmas break that unusually has lasted two whole weeks. We have taken down all the decorations and put them away in the loft for the next 11 months and my mind is turning to work once again.
I couldn’t stay locked up inside all day, despite how cosy it would be to do so. I ventured out to look for birds at a nearby reservoir to add to my, so far, very short list for the year. There is a White-fronted Goose about, mixed in with a flock of Greylags but it and they were not visible. Down by the water’s edge, I could see very little due to the blanket of fog but a small party of male Goldeye floated past and there were Mute Swans, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Moorhen to add to the year’s tally.
The atmosphere by the water typified the bleakness of the day. Almost silent, the only sounds were the drips from the trees, an occasional subdued quack and the far off chime of a church bell, almost muffled by the cloud. The fog left a monochrome vision of the reservoir, nothing in the winter scene to add any colour, even the birds were black, white or grey.
Now for a warm and cosy evening indoors with a log fire, soft lighting and, maybe, a dram to round off the holiday.
After a very windy and rainy night and morning we made our way down to the coast and the beach at Blegberry near Hartland, Devon.
With the tide out, the waves were distant from us as we stood overlooking the shoreline but they were still an impressive sight crashing onto the rocky beach.
I took the following photos standing on the low grassy cliff top above the beach, focusing on the stream that cascades down onto the rocks beneath. The water level had increased markedly following the hours of rainfall since the early hours of 2025…
Daft Mumblings 