Deep Freeze

Still a bit nippy. Lots of snow on Thursday night again.
Went down to Kensington yesterday to the annual Astofest. Lots of very nice big and expensive telescopes and associated gear. Had a chat with a few dealers as I am looking for some special filters for my camera lenses, saw  lightweight camera platform and some solar equipment that would be really be of use.

Spoke to Sarah today-they had temperatures at 0500 this morning of -15C.
Took Mum shopping this morning, and even with the Sun blazing down, the temperature at 100 was still between -5 and -6C. The ice is melting so the paths are clearing but there is still a lot of snow lying.
Birds seem to be coping well. The usual stuff is visiting the garden but there is still nothing out of the ordinary appearing. Sarah's gripped me off-she has had a Blackcap in her garden and there is a male Bullfinch in the hedge that they can see from the living room.

Weird bird report this weekend is the White Tailed Eagle reported south of Luton at East Hyde yesterday apparently heading my way late afternoon. Kept my eyes open of course every time I went out. Today it was reported heading south east over Rye Meads at Noon and it or another over Sheppy three hours later.
Now the reasonable route from East Hyde to Rye Meads is to follow the river Lea, or maybe the Mimram which will eventually reach the Lea. In which case it would have flown over some heavily birded locations, but no-one seems to know who has been reporting the bird. Lots of puzzled and frustrated Herts birders at the moment.