After all the recent rain a crisp, sunny spell of weather was very welcome on the reserves. Woodlands always look spectacular on frosty, clear sky days, especially at Nagshead with the bare ancient oaks standing proud while sunbeams filter through to the woodland floor. The frosts also meant that wellies weren't required on the Short Trail for first time in weeks! The reserve has seemed very quiet lately, but a bit of good weather and the birds and animals seem to appear as if by magic. Everything in the woodland seems so much happier on days like this! A mixed flock of Redwings and Blackbirds could be seen busily foraging amongst the leaf litter, from a distance it looked like the woodland floor was alive as leaves were being thrown everywhere. Nuthatches and Great Spotted Woodpeckers were calling again making them easy to locate and Jays could be seen darting from tree to tree looking for an easy meal.
The Short Trail at RSPB Nagshead in glorious winter sunshine (Photo: Lewis Thomson)
While walking along the Gloucestershire Way and Long Trail one morning I came across random blobs of what looked like snow from a distance. As I got closer I thought it must be some sort of fungi as it was only present on deadwood. I picked a piece of the wood up for a closer look and was astonished to see the material disintergrate as I breathed near it.......it was ice! It looked like white candyfloss and even felt furry when touched. I pulled a section off and squeezed it, water started dripping from my hand and I was left with a solid snowball, very weird! I took some photos and looked it up when I got back to the office. It is apparently known as hair ice and forms from excess moisture freezing in the deadwood which builds on successive cold nights forming long fine strands of ice. Really quite interesting and not something I have encountered before.
'Hair ice' which had formed on fallen deadwood at RSPB Nagshead (Photo: Lewis Thomson)