Fun at Fontburn Reservoir

Edit: it's the 10th of April as I catch up with the blog and it's still bloody cold these could well be still around.

At the end of the Month we had a run to Fontburn reservoir usually at this time of year you can catch up with some early migrants ,but not this year , a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming on a metal plate of a telegraph pole resonated throughout the area on this cold grey day . First a walk around the north shore you can't actually walk all the way around , the grim sight of 5 dead sheep in one field summed up the conditions experienced this SPRING, the usual Canada Geese , a few Mallard and about a dozen Teal all that was on the lake , a distant Buzzard and a couple of Great Tits was the total for this side. There has been a fairly recent addition of a pond near the car park which could prove useful for Dragonflies  . Back to the car for a warm and a coffee ,which is where I left my other half reading a book as I headed around the South side it's easy walking with boardwalks where required  again not much bird life , a Wren, 2 Chaffinch (numerous t the car park) 2 Pied Wagtails , but from the north side I could see ice formations along the shore where the wind had constantly splashed water over the trees etc. . There was some quite spectacular   formations just shows you don't know what your going to find so get out there .I insisted my other half came around for a look it took some convincing to leave the car but she did think it worth it in the end !!

 This was the oddest shape just formed on the end of a branch ,I had to lean over and take pot luck with the shot,hence my boot in the frame

 Stalagmites and Stalactites yes , but what do you call this ?

 Nature is marvellous these must have started as individual icicles then blended together ,a time lapsed shot would have been fantastic 

 A few Cormorants on the end and the start of the overflow on the right 

 The overflow hole what a piece of engineering ,like something from a Bond movie,the overflow drops down here(look how level it is) and comes out here ,the dark area by the trees,it's quite a drop .An old rail bridge in the background

Looking over to the north

 About 2/3 of the lake was frozen  looking rather bleak