February Freeze

The newspapers had been eagerly predicting a bad winter on what seemed like a weekly basis since way back in October and at last in early February they got what they wanted. 'Britain shivers as Siberian conditions bring travel chaos', they blared and all the same old hysterical clichés were trotted out to bring panic to middle England. How people from countries which endure prolonged and extreme winters every year must laugh at us. Yes we had a few inches of snow and yes it was cold, but hell, it's winter! Surely it would not be unreasonable to expect some cold weather at some point in the winter months. As snow lay on the ground and the temperatures plummeted the newspapers predicted the end of civilisation, wildlife got on with the business of day to day survival. Our tiny back garden was over run with birds. Wood Pigeons and Black-headed Gulls dropped in to greedily hoover up the mountains of bread I put out every morning. Apple halves and seed attracted an amazing count of 15 Blackbirds, many of whom had probably fled the bad weather in Europe. A Reed Bunting hung around for 2 days, a male Blackcap, possibly another refugee from the continent, passed through but decided not to stay and Fieldfares gathered in the trees at the end of the garden but were not tempted to fly down and feed.

A frozen Startops Reservoir (10/02/2012)

The Reservoirs froze over rapidly leaving only tiny patches of clear water at Wilstone and Startops, while Marsworth froze over completely in a single night. A pretty female Smew saw out the cold weather in an overcrowded patch of unfrozen water at Startops and the long staying Snow Bunting, helped out by regular offerings of seed from well-wishers probably found the cold weather a breeze. Three Bitterns, presaging the bad weather, arrived at Marsworth and were regularly seen pottering about on the ice looking rather confused and fed up. A Red Fox was seen more than once wandering through the reedbeds, sometimes venturing out onto the ice itself. This amazing set of photographs were taken by Lucy Flower who was lucky enough to witness this close encounter between the Fox and a Bittern. The Fox emerged from the reeds, and passed within a few metres of the Bittern but didn't seem to know what to make of the rather bemused looking bird on the ice. The Bittern had probably never seen a Fox before and although it kept a careful eye on the stealthy animal did not seem unduly worried. Perhaps the Fox did not like the look of that dagger like bill and those sharp claws? If Bitterns are anything like Grey Herons they will stab at the face and the eyes to defend themselves. Whatever the reason, a wary truce was called between the two and the Fox passed quietly by.

Fox and Bittern, Marsworth Reservoir, 07/02/2012 (Photographs courtesy of Lucy Flower)

The water level at Marsworth is very low and the reed bed dry, hardly ideal feeding conditions for Bitterns at the best of times, so how the birds survived the freeze I'm not sure. After being seen regularly they were not noted for several days and I feared the worst, so it was really pleasing to hear that all three birds had been spotted last week. They had somehow seen out the harsh conditions, eking out just enough food to survive from the small stream that flows at the back of the reeds. They are obviously made of tough stuff!

Thanks to Lucy Flower for the photographs.

Fox and Bittern photographs copyright Lucy Flower
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