MIRACULOUS ICE SHEETS

Where is a time lapse camera when you need it? It really hasn't been a cold winter but on Sunday morning, a phenomena that occurs often in deep winter was apparent here, but on a less heavy scale. What happens is a crust of ice develops across the top of a dip or puddle but nowhere near the water below. On this occasion, because it wasn't that cold, the ice was wafer thin, allowing me to look into the bowls below. Sometimes the ice creeps along and out from something like grass, as above, but in other cases, as below, there is seemingly no means of supporting the span. At the top right of the sheet, you can see the spiky ice fingers gently touching the peat at the edge of the bowl allowing it to rest there:

Jack broke the ice on this one and you can see how deep the bowl is and how far from the puddle below:

Beautiful patterns in this one:

I thought I'd try and lift the whole ice sheet off this one. It was reluctant to move, its edges meshed with surrounding fine roots but........

............underneath, it was as bone dry as any thing can be here at the moment. I would just love to watch how that formed. 

A more grass related one:

This one was absolutely enormous; at least 3 feet wide and absolutely beautiful:

Just a few more beautiful ones; like the finest sugar work:

Sunday was just awful - it rained heavily all day and on Monday morning, the wild ponies had perms:

Whilst out walking yesterday, I was looking very closely at some Crottle on a rock and noticed it seemed to be quite aggressive as lichens go. Given how slowly they grow, this will have been an extremely slow invasion, but look how the white Crottle has grown over the other more leafy lichen and, in the second picture, the surrounding moss. Amazing stuff.

More beautiful lichens:

It was threatening to snow but we got away with it. 

You really don't want to know why Jack is licking his lips:

Gorse is flowering of course:

OB can now solve the Rubik's cube in one minute fifty two seconds and has found a use for the Polo's previously redundant cup holder - genius:

Mum to Waitrose and MRI tomorrow, a meeting with the paediatrician on Thursday WITHOUT OB thank goodness and parents' evening that night, so a busy couple of days ahead. Hope your week is going well so far and welcome to a couple more followers. So until next time, here are the dogs enjoying themselves yesterday.