Jan 22nd Strumpshaw Fen

Not going to lie to you, it has been quite a bad week for me and my family. On Friday, while heading to Titchwell, we had news that my granddad was taken to hospital. He's been suffering with a racing heart, but since Friday, a manner of other symptoms elsewhere in his body have occurred as well which has made him rather out of it for the most part. Everyone in the entire family is of course worried about him and has been taking it in turns to give him some company. I went to visit him yesterday and he looked extremely frail, but had at least made some improvements to how he was over the weekend. We all hope he recovers soon, though from what I've heard, he might be in hospital for quite some time.

Mallard on ice!

Going to Strumpshaw this morning has been a welcome distraction. For a few hours, I could take my mind of what has been happening by walking mist-covered reserve to look for wildlife (not that there were many that I could visibly see within the mist). Percy the persistent pheasant gave me a lot of attention throughout my time at Strumpshaw today, following me around before and after I filled up the feeders. He seemed more interested in where I was going than the actual food.

Out in front of the Reception Hide, the broad was largely frozen over. The ducks kept to the more ice-free far side of the broad cloaked in a light cover of what remained of the mist. Some of them were deceived by the ice and made crash landings as they mistook it for clear water. It made the scene rather comical as they slipped and slide across the ice. I also saw marsh harriers, Chinese water deer, greylags song thrushes and goldcrests.

Back home, I spent the afternoon with Mum round mine as she sought through some things with me. But while we were up in my flat, outside, someone managed to swipe my mum's car, wrecking the driver's side door with glass everywhere! Talk about the worst timing for it to happen with Granddad in hospital and all!