Sunday 15 January 2012

Frost fits the land like a glove

14th January

This once-wetland of the Fens is quick still with wildlife and bright today with frost. By the train’s track the delicate tracery of birch and the drooping grandeur of ash are heavy with hoar. To the east, a long low ledge of cloud is lit by the coming sun.

In the fields a fine-footed company of roe and in the almost-light of the sky above them an effortless buoyancy of rooks. A foxtrot fox and a tumble of hares are here too. This list grows and today is to the mammals.

This train is for London King’s Cross via Ely and Cambridge.



Mammals

7
brown hare
Lepus capensis
8
roe deer
Capreolus capreolus
9
red fox
Vulpes vulpes

Birds

84
tufted duck
Aythya fuligula
85
grey heron
Ardea cinerea
86
fieldfare
Turdus pilaris
87
redwing
Turdus iliacus
88
pochard
Aythya ferina


Totals
Mammals: 9
Birds: 88
Reptiles: 0
Amphibians: 0
Fish: 0

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