Mist rising
Frosty banks
reflections in the stream
Iain is here for Christmas and he has to play the fool!
Some one always has to climb and he is about to find out that its a long way down!
And guess who fell off!
The dogs pose
Very Frosty down by the stream
The little bluetits were looking for food
A bluetit at Cadmans Pond
Cadmans pond was pretty much iced up
The Ducks were a little disorientated and fed up
The Beaulieu River at Kings Hat
It was very cold and frosty this morning, but the forest looks so pretty.
The dogs loved their walk and they were racing about. no chance of them getting cold. Fortunately there was no wind and with the sun it was pleasant walking.
The red stems of the dog wood were very pretty in the morning sun.
it was a very enjoyable winter walk.
It was very cold at the lakes, but plenty of activity around the feeders.
I like this little coal tit
and a puffed up finch
Here a Siskin is feeding, Blashford attracts large numbers , but this is the first time I have seen one on the feeders.
and finally a Chaffinch
Missy just loves to play ball.
On Tuesday they were working at Pigbush and we could see the smoke from their fires a long way off.
Today we walked at Shatterford and we could still see the smoke from the fires at Pigbush in the distance. They are removing some of the unwanted growth from the forest.
We thought it was much warmer today but the puddles were still iced over.
We saw several groups of deer today, some in the woods and some in the open. Taivas went to herd this group up, but she knows they are likely to tell Rudolph if she misbehaves and then there will be no Christmas presents, so she put her Halo on and came running back when we called her.
Some more pics from Arundel's Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre. These are Longtailed ducks and apparently in America they are known as Old Squaw
This was perhaps the strangest duck we saw on our visit to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust yesterday. They have 4 males there and are hoping to introduce some females soon.
The male spectacled eider's distinguishing marks are a black chest, unlike other eiders, and a large pale green head with black outlined white spectacle-like patches around the eyes. The white throat, neck, back, and folded wing contrast with the black rump, tail, and underparts. Females and young spectacled eiders have light brown patches around the eye. Other unique characteristics of these birds are the pale blue iris of the eye and facial plumage that extends halfway down the bill to the nostrils.
Most spectacled eiders breed along the coast of Arctic Russia, and about 8-10,000 birds breed on Alaska's North Slope. However, since the early 1970s, the number of spectacled eiders in western Alaska has declined by more than 90 percent to about 8,000 birds. This severe reduction raised concern about this bird's future, and in 1993, the spectacled eider was designated a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. Specific reasons for the decline are not certain, but recent studies have shown high rates of exposure to lead in Y-K Delta birds. While feeding in ponds, nesting adults and ducklings are picking up spent lead shot from hunting and are suffering health effects. Both the lead problem and the need to understand the biology of this species have stimulated an intensive research program to help their recovery. The spectacled eider was chosen as the subject for the 1987 Alaska Waterfowl Conservation Stamp.
After the wet weather of friday, we were pleased to wake up to a dry day and decided to go to Arundel. The morning was beautiful and we enjoyed wandering around the Ponds photographing the Wildfowl. Just before lunch we took a trip on one of the small electric boats that silently glides through the reed beds. Unfortunately it was quite a windy day and so the watervoles stayed at home and we didn't see any. Whilst we were having lunch a sharp rain shower passed over. It was much cooler in the afternoon, but we walked all around again and we took a lot of photos . Which will appear on the blog when I have edited them. I will have plenty of duck photos for rainy days! These first photos are just general views of the centre.
