The Shannon is frozen

Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus)

photo Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.de

Yesterday I watched the Whooper swans leave Dromineer: three straggling Vs, honking as they went, almost yellow against the grey snowy sky. They know what they are about, these great migratory birds which come to us from Iceland every winter. No doubt the last patch of water they were keeping open was begining to freeze, so they decided to head on further South, to the Wexford slobs perhaps.

I went down to the beach at Dromineer in the late afternoon, and the lake looked to be frozen as far as the eye could see, at least as far as the Corrikeen Islands. Families with chidren and dogs were gathering in a magical light to venture out onto the ice, marvelling at the once-in-a-generation sight. I feel sure they were quite safe within a few yards of the shore, but a few foolhardy souls had ventured out as far as a hundred yards. I could see the ice was barely 2 inches thick - far to thin to be safe away from the shore - so I yelled at them to come back, which to give them their due they did - lads from the Nenagh Canoe Club, who quite understood the point of my officious behaviour.

I remember as a child in East Anglia learning to skate on the frozen Towny in Landbeach with cushions tied on fron and back to soften my falls. I also remember being taken to the Fen Championships, which are only held in years when the ice is thick enough, where hundreds of spectators watch the competitors skate at staggering speeds round a course marked on the ice. I see that they are being held this year today, 10th January 2010, on Whittlesey Wash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPzX-9v_M5c

And my mother, God bless her, had a story about how, when the Shannon froze in the early 1930s, with some friends she walked from Luska over to the Galway shore pushing a small boat in front of them for safety. With global warming I never thought I would see the lake frozen myself, but of course a freeze like this is weather, not climate. We may be freezing here, but it has nothing to do with climate change: according to Dr Walter Meier of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado, this winter “pretty much all of the Arctic is above normal” - by as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas.

I was due to take services in Templederry and Puckane today, but I cancelled them after talking to the Church Wardens. The sermon I had planned will fly another day. A good decision. As I write this now, from my study window I can see the snow falling gently. The drive and road are pure white. A day to stay put and thank God for the beauty of snow, a warm house and water that still runs.

Drive and Labyrinth in the snow

Raised beds & Lime alley in the snow

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone

Winter Wonderland

The countryside around, like the rest of Ireland, is a winter wonderland, dusted with a light snowfall two days ago and frosted hard ever since, with hoar-frost glistening on every twig the pale morning light has not reached.

Frosted pink Hebe

It is very beautiful, but dangerously slippy on roads like ours that have not been salted. Susanna and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary two days ago and booked ourselves for a dinner at the Whiskey Still in the village. But when we came to drive there, the car's wheels spun on the compacted ice just outside our drive entrance and we slipped back. Eventually, I let the car slide into the rough margin of the road where rough grit gave enough traction to breast the hill. And we enjoyed an excellent dinner, reminiscing about our Florida wedding and Sarasota honeymoon, spent in shorts sunbathing by the side of a pool, observed by a green-masked heron!

It is a hard time for the birds, which Susanna is assiduously providing with food and fresh water. The familiar common birds visit the birdtable and hanging feeders in a constant stream, including Chaffinches, Greenfinches, occasional Goldfinches, Sparrows, Dunnocks, Robins, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tit's, a single hen Blackcap Warbler and a juvenile cock Blackbird. I can see them through the bedroom window, and observe their pecking order. The Blackbird rules the roost and the others stay away when he is feeding. Next in order are the Greenfinches, but they tolerate others feeding beside them so long as they are not too close. Then comes the Blackcap hen, who is faced off by Greenfinches, but agressively chases away all the smaller birds, like a garden fascist as I previously described it. The Tits and Chaffinches just muck in together.

Elsewhere in the garden, blackbirds maintain their territories despite the weather. I have just seen a Pied Wagtail exploring the gutter for insects outside my upstairs study window. Yesterday there was a Robin on the ground outside the greenhouse which was unable to fly, and later I found it dead and threw its little body into the hedge, where no doubt it will provide a meal for some other creature.