Big freeze at the moor

Spent the day crunching around in the snow and ice at Staines Moor in a bitterly cold north-easterly. The reward for my effort was a Curlew passing low over, which almost landed. Hardly surprisingly most birds have moved on to try and escape the worst of the arctic conditions, and those that remain were mainly concentrated around the River Colne - the only unfrozen water on the moor. Counts today include 2 Water Pipits, 3 Common Snipe, 4 Northern Lapwing, 25 Eurasian Wigeon, 2 Northern Shoveler, 3 Eurasian Teal, 3 Little Grebe, 25 Fieldfare and just a single Skylark.