Wet

Too wet for a country walk this morning, so we decided to 'take the bull by the horns' and brave Tesco. It was very muddy under foot as we skirted around the industrial estate which backs onto both our estate and the Country Park, near to the 'D.B.C. Bogwash' as Malcolm calls it - seen here, a couple of days ago as we passed it when the ground - and some of the water surface - was frozen.

The lake, actually called Manor Floods, is always packed with mallards, coots, swans, tufted ducks, moorhens, gulls, etc. At this time of year the coots are beginning to notice the lengthening days and are obviously looking forward to the Spring. As such, they are starting to squabble amongst themselves and cause much disturbance on the water, not that the mallards take a great deal of notice of them.