First frost on the ditches
Minus two at sunrise and the first proper frost of the season. The grass along the dike crunched, and every ditch had a thin skin of ice at the edges with open water in the middle, which is exactly where the ducks were.
Teal in good numbers, sitting tight in the reeds until I was nearly level with them. A single common snipe went up from almost under my boots, zig-zagged twice and dropped again forty metres on. I have stopped trying to photograph them.
- Eurasian teal - about 60
- Mallard - 25
- Grey heron - 2 (arguing)
- Common snipe - 1
- Stonechat - 1, on the fence by the pumping station
- Lapwing - a loose flock of 40 over the far field
Home by nine with numb fingers and a full page. Good morning.