Sparkling snow and light around Saulge

Lovely sunny day again yesterday ... not exactly shirt sleeve sunny, we're still in minus figures by day, but radiant blue skies and sparkling light made for some really nice shots in and around Saulge this morning and later on in the day.

Tired of looking at snow and ice photographs from across Europe and on your friend's facebook pages? Hope not because although there is a limit to how many times you can make the snow bound terrain and frozen waterways look good on film, I've discovered some new angles! Like this simple image of a snowy field (right). I love the contrast of those compacted mounds and dimples in the foreground with that stunning blue sky. Interesting huh!?

The River Gartempe is almost completely frozen over at Saulge now with just a tiny rivulet still running on the Northern side of the bridge (I'd take that tiny flow in my water pipes right now!), and I must say that the bridge itself is looking more splendid than usual in the Winter sun

Now then, on that last photograph you might be able to spot some big black birds in the tree tops behind the bridge ...... there you go, you've got em! 'Just a bunch of crows in a tree Baggins' you may say! Well yes you may say that and you would be partly correct, they are members of the crow family but these are Rooks as a pose to Carrion Crows. Many folk just see a big black bird and think 'crow' and think no more about it but apart from the 'bigness' and the 'blackness' they are quite different species and one of the most intelligent of birds to boot!

There's an old saying that goes 'a Crow in a crowd is a Rook, a Rook on its own is a Crow' .... Rooks are very social birds and are almost always seen in flocks, whilst Carrion Crows are more likely to be seen singly or in small family groups. Carrion Crows have black beaks whilst Rooks have a very distinct grey / bony beak and look vaguely sinister (they're the original Hitchcock scary bird!). Both species nest early in the year (February) and you can see some territorial squabbling going on in the picture below - this in fact a close up of the aforementioned birds behind the bridge (what would I do without my super 500ml lense!)

And on this pic of a Rook in flight (right) you can clearly see that monstrous bony beak! The more I look at this pic the more I like it and reckon it's the best Rook photograph I've taken to date .... you can even pick out it's rib cage if you look closely!

It was all a bit dicey down by the river's edge and to get some of these shots I had to tread very carefully, it was difficult to judge whether I was standing on the bank or the river and was probably being a tad foolish (nothing new there then!) ... this was borne out just before I took this shot -

My knee went straight through the ice! Good job it was shallow but my was that a shock .... cold too!

Whilst I was berating myself for being so stupid and nursing my cold and bruised knee, this beautiful pale phase Common Buzzard floated across the river. I'd like to think that being an avian friendly kind of chap, that he (or she .... its difficult to tell these days) was maybe looking out for me, making sure I was ok, that sort of mystical man / creature phenomenon, maybe in my slightly distressed state I was easy prey (now I'm being silly) ... in actual fact I think he (or she) just fancied being a star on my blog!!

Chilly in La Macherie but the sun makes an entrance!

Another sub zero day here in La Macherie (-10 this morning!) but we have to go out because the sun is shining, my pipes are still frozen solid so no chance of a hot shower and of course Balloo is raring to go .... he's enjoying all the snow, running just as fast and I'm convinced he's skidding around on purpose!

The river Gartemps is completely frozen over in parts and even here where it flows really quickly its beginning to go at the edges as you can see.

Balloo still thinks he can go in for a splash around though .... no chance matey, look as longingly as you like but you're staying just where you are!

Its lovely to see the sun out, making the fresh, crisp snow positively glisten and I just love the crunchy feeling under-foot as I walk and that hint of warmth on my face. Could have done with sunglasses this morning it was that bright!

I disturbed a Common Snipe (right)  and a Woodcock (left)during my trek out, both long billed birds (the latter is often shot at) that really struggle to penetrate the ground and therefore feed in cold snaps. Snipes are usually to be found probing around on the edges of ponds whilst Woodcock favour the forest floor but in weather like this they can often be seen in unusual places such as roadsides or even gardens as they search for soft ground to probe.

On the way back up the hill to La Macherie I was trying (unsuccessfully) to photograph a couple of Wrens when I noticed this Blackbird sunning itself on one of the few bits of earth not covered in snow ..... he wasn't giving up that spot for anybody, never flinched a feather as I walked right up to him. Ok, probably one of the commonest birds in France, especially at this time of the year but even the most ubiquitous of birds can look good in the right light!

Later on in the day I managed to capture a few decent photographs of Long Tailed Tits as I walked along a hedgerow just outside the village, again a common enough bird but in the right light ....

In actual fact I spent nearly 20 minutes and took maybe 30 pics trying to get some good shots and by the end of it my fingers were so numb with cold I had to give up but these 3 shots came out pretty nicely. The big problem was that although they were quite close they were flitting about like mad in a very twiggy tree which meant that many of the shots were obscured .... ah but it's all in the challenge and worth nearly getting frostbite!

Well I've just succeeded in raising the temperature in my kitchen to 10 degrees C with the aid of both paraffin and electric heaters so time to leave my cosy lounge and cook some food!

I leave you with another nice sunset, yesterday it was Askam Bryan, Yorkshire ... today is an equally chilly La Macherie sundown .....