Cold snap freezes lake almost completely

The current cold spell of weather has resulted in Stocker’s Lake becoming almost completely frozen over. As a result most of our over-wintering wildfowl seem to have temporarily departed. At time of writing only a small patch of water, in the SE corner of the lake adjacent to Shoveler hide, remains uncovered with ice. Here a reasonable number of waterbirds remain, mostly Shoveler and Great Crested Grebe. But sadly on the remainder of the lake all that currently can be seen in terms of birdlife is not much more than the occasional gull or swan standing on ice.

On the plus side numerous smaller birds such as tits and redwings can still be seen moving around the shore. Also the lake is looking incredibly beautiful in the current still and frosty conditions, as the accompanying slideshow testifies. So it remains very well worth a visit!