{"id":1802,"date":"2010-12-18T21:12:11","date_gmt":"2010-12-18T21:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1802"},"modified":"2013-11-09T23:15:30","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T23:15:30","slug":"guess-what-it-snowed-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/guess-what-it-snowed-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Guess what, it snowed today."},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

We had several hours of snow this morning. Well, to be fair some of it was hail which served to add some solid ice to the already frozen roads around here. This was the scene from the garden at around 9.30 am.
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There were tell-tale signs that foxes had been through in the night.
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But my main concern was getting to the shops. The roads were not looking good. I walked.
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It wasn't much better when I got to the small shopping parade. The local bus service had given up. Fair enough. I'm amazed they made it up here in the first place. The local hills are as steep as mountain passes. Clearly though they weren't going to risk the drive back down the hills into town.<\/span> <\/p>\n

And here's a good reason why not. Just a few yards away… Two lamp posts demolished.
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The few cars that were about were sliding on thick ice. I saw several failed attempts to turn up hills (Why? I ask myself, Why do you think you can do that?), and some motorized ice-dancing.<\/p>\n

There were also nice – if somewhat bleak – views from here out over the Downs and to the sea.
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It was on my way back (with plenty of supplies) that I had my wildlife encounter. Nothing exotic, but small birds in snow are always fun to see, especially when they are as lively as this little pied wagtail.
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The temperature has dropped below 0\u00ba again, but the chances are that we'll escape any further snow falls. The question now is whether the thaw will arrive before Monday. Although the main roads should be passable, the smaller roads are untreated and frankly without chains (or at a stretch, a 4-wheel drive) there is no safe way out.
\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: The first two shots were taken with the Canon 40D: first with the EF 100mm f\/2.8L macro IS USM lens, and the second with the EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS. The rest of the photos were taken with the Panasonic FZ45.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[980,1003,16],"tags":[120,1136],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds-2","category-landscape-2","category-snow","tag-pied-wagtail","tag-snow","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t