Frozen ponds

[alison]

Both my ponds are frozen over today. The large pond is very thick with ice in the shallows but in the deep end where the waterfall is still going there is a small amount of clear water. I hope that will be enough as my filterbox which usually kept the shallows open slightly broke and I haven't mended it yet so no water is being pumped round the pond.
The tiny pond was completely frozen. I hope that the small fish and any frogs are okay but the water was already smelling a little bit stagnant the day before it froze. I had put a small plantpot in to keep an area open so I pulled it out to make a small area of clear water but I don't know if it will be enough. How are your ponds faring or haven't you even got snow. It is a few inches here.

[Tricia]

Hope you manage to keep enough open water for your fish Alison. No ice on my pond yet, though I have to smash the ice on the bird bath each morning. -3C here last night, which is pretty cold for the coast in this region. The biting wind is what keeps me indoors in the warm though!

[alison]

We have quite a few inches of snow now and each day I am having to open up the little pond. The ice is very thick in places on the pond and cannot be broken easily. I am just opening up the small round area of the large plantpot which does freeze each day but is much less ice than the surrounding area so can be gently put through each morning. My son who is in Catterick so a good 50 minutes further north up the A1 from us in Leeds has had none stop snow for days now and a good few inches falling today. All the schools here are closed. He has two Barn owls and a Buzzard and had to take over 4inches of snow off the tarpaullin roofing so it didn't collapse on to them. He has noticed that a couple of mice have moved into the shed over the last few days as well.
The sparrows are nicely nesting in my Ivy and they came down to have a drink to the waterfall. The fat balls must be quite solid to try to eat at the moment. I have thrown out some mealworms and bread as the seed has all been eaten. I don't think that the starlings would have expected so cold a return to Britain.

[retropwr]

No snow around here. We had a few snow showers on Saturday but nothing that has stuck around. It's been cold though, but no ice on the pond.

[alison]

Well another day where the temperatures this morning are -5. It has finally stopped snowing for the moment so I have been out and taken some photo's of the garden. Sonny is going to get them ready.
The main roads are clear now but the side streets are still full of snow. Some of the schools have reopened. Beth and Lucy live in Kippax where they have loads of steep hills so Beths school is at the bottom of a hill and up the other side. It has been impossible to get the cars up and down so they have been living with us since monday. There school is open again today but as it's friday and our road is still really bad we haven't sent them.
Here are the latest pics:


A picture of Temple Newsam the first day of snow.


This is the azaelia bush all covered in Icicles.


This shows the hole put in the small pond to keep it open.


The pots in the front garden. I guess they will have plenty of water when it thaws.


The view from the top of the waterfall. You can just about see the opening.


The ice gathering on the bottom of the waterfall.


Looking up the street from our gate. That is my brown bin waiting for collection.


This is the bottom of our road.


This is a picture of the beck down on the Valley taken a couple of days ago.

[Tricia]

Some lovely pictures Alison - Brrrrrrr! Reminds me of my years in Canada. We had a very slight dusting yesterday, but it was gone by mid-day. Last night went down to -5C - in my shed! Today it rose to +3C, went down to +2C and is now climbing tonight and is currently at +4+C, so I guess the 'warmer' air is coming into the south west. My pond didn't freeze at all, but I had difficulty trying to smash the ice on the bird bath this morning - it was solid. I managed to break off a little and then the sun melted enough for the birds to be able to get a drink.

(Off topic) - I can't walk very far - and then only slowly, so my good friend and neighbour has been doing my shopping for me this week telling me it was far too cold and windy for me to go out at all. She's a lovely lass - I made her a chocolate cake today as a thank you!

[alison]

Sonny took the views of the Valley which is a lovely pictue and the one of Temple Newsam and I used his camera to take the others.

(off topic)
I usually pick people up at the bus stop if they are going to the shops in Cross Gates. Most people accept the lift. It is only 3 bus stops distance but when it is cold and wet they are glad for the lift.Today I saw an older woman walking in the snow and I was just about to ask her, when she turned into the local church I was parked next to. We have an elderly lady next door to us but she is highly independant and we can't often help her. We do still try and Bethany went round to ask her if she could clear her path for her but she said she was going to wait a bit longer to wait for the snow to stop before she wanted it done.
Then Beth saw out of the window an old lady carrying two heavy bags up the street. She felt very sorry for her. She ran out and asked the lady if she could carry them for her. She took them to her home and cleared the gateway of snow to help her get in. The lady gave her £1 for her trouble but Beth said "No you don't have to do that thankyou" The lady insisted though so Beth came back very happy. I think it is good that they are willing to help for no reward except knowing they have helped someone. It means more to them when they get a reward for that kindness
We haven't had any more snow today so hopefully that will be the last of it. I love to look at it though as it is so beautiful but the practicalities of getting anywhere sometimes takes the edge off it's beauty.

[retropwr]

We had about two inches of snow Thursday night which hung around all day as the temp stayed well below freezing, then at about 4pm it started to warm up and was +5 and raining by 10pm. Been a miserable day today with mist and drizzle.

[alison]

The snow and ice finally melted away but not before my little baby fish in the small pond had died. What a shame. I'm not sure if it was the toxins when the pond was frozen right over in the night hours before I could keep it open or wether it was the shock waves when I fell in. Yes I fell into the little pond. It was funny really. I had tried to reopen the hole as the ice had formed back over the hole overnight. I had been doing it all week but this particular day it was harder than ever and I managed to just loosen a bit round the edge. I thought I would just gently place my foot over the hole and put pressure on gently so as not to cause any ripples. Well ! I placed my foot down and pressed, the ice broke taking my foot down into the water which then made more ice break up and the water came flooding up into my shoe. I touched the bottom of the shallows which was very slippy and it just kept slipping further into the deeper water. As I was sliding further in I tried to get hold of the planters next to the pond to righten myself but they all just tumbled into the pond taking me further down. Eventually I came to a standstill or should I say that a lay-still was more acurate. I was laughing so much but I was very wet by this time and had broken so much ice up with tumbling in that my attempts of being gentle had really gone out of the window. The next day I found the little fish floating.
The bad weather is back with snow sleet and hail yesterday and high winds. I like to put out a christmas tree outside the front door with all the decorations and lights on, but it was so bad yesterday I ended up bringing it back inside after it had been blown down and wet through. I managed to rescue it but not before it had taken one of my frog ornaments from the window ledge and broken it with it's fall. The weather is supposed to be getting worse over the weekend so the tree is firmly placed in my frogery in front of the window. Which is where it may stay all christmas

[retropwr]

Shame about the baby fish, it could also have been the cold that killed them. I read somewhere that when water temps get below 2c ice can start forming the the fishes gills with the obvious disasterous results, and perhaps small fish are more suseptible.
Still no ice on the pond but it's snowing here at the moment.
Just had a bit of entertainment watching the neighbours new kitten in the snow for the first time doing its Tigger impression as it bounced around their garden. Our cat took one look outside turned round and went back to bed.

[retropwr]

Well it's officially cold here now as the pond has frozen over overnight, and that is a very rare occurrance around here.
Still clear where the water goes in and out of the small pond and into the main pond.

[alison]

At the moment it is -8 in the garden so goodness knows how cold it is in the pond. There is only a very small amount of running water now in the pond as the ice is forming off the pipe before the water gets going in the waterfall and hits the pond. I think the water has dropped by a good 6-8 inches maybe even more but I am doing it by eye so it won't be completely accurate. I am sure that nothing will survive in the small pond so I hope no frogs went in for safety as they will be dead now. That is very hard to take I couldn't even defrost it at all yesterday as the ice was over 2 inches thick that I could see. I feel that when this winter is over there will be many casualties which will be heartbreaking as most of them I have had for years now. It already seems to have been a long time and yet it is only about a month.
Today Jack Frost did a wonderful job everywhere making the garden look magical. Jasmine is staying this weekend as well as Bethany and Lucy and she came running into my bedroom to tell me Jack Frost had been.

[alison]

Well this is the pond today. My son (who is very hefty!!) and Jasmine are standing in the middle of the pond which was very solid indeed. It was taken at 4pm when it was just getting dark. He has cleared very large boulders of ice from the edge of the waterfall so that the water flows better.

[alison]

Well so much for clearing the ice from the waterfall. It is even worse today and only a small channel of water is getting through the ice. It looks like an underground channel of water as the ice is covering all but an inch or so of the waterfall, you can't even see the rocks round the edge as they are all covered with thick ice forms. I went out and had to get a spade to bang some of it off to give the water a better chance. It is strange as looking into the pond it is like looking down a round crevice to see a river running below. What is happening is that the water is splashing as it hits the pond surface and is freezing in mid air. It looks fabulous but is not too good for the poor fish.

[retropwr]

Wow !! Thats some ice you have there.

I'ts warmed up around here and has been above freezing for the last two nights so all the ice has gone from the pond and most of the snow has gone as well.