Even MORE snow in the woods!

On Thursday I posted pictures of Rye after the heavy snow, and yesterday we went up to the woods in the Land Rover to take some pictures and process more firewood. It's the most snow I've ever seen in East Sussex, in fact the most anywhere, apart from Cairngorm!

This is the track into the woods:

Of course, this holds no fear for the Land Rover - we'd just driven safely down a steep hill that was too icy to walk on without falling over!

To give you a better idea of how deep the snow was up in the wood, here it is lying on a stile, with a credit card for scale:

The snow had piled up on everything it could, including stools:

and our firewood shelter:

Well, we were there to process firewood, so we loaded our cutting rack a couple of times with split year-old wood:

and that was enough to finish refilling it:

We fed the birds as well, topping up the bird feeder and also leaving some on the ground for the Robins, who aren't so keen on using the feeder. If fact, it was the Coal Tits who went there first:

but they spend more time in the feeder usually:

There were actually two Robins around, so there was a bit of fighting and showing off - I guess an area where humans leave food is prime territory...

We were also pleased to see a Nuthatch, digging for bugs in the Oak trees:

but it also ventured down to the feeder as well:

Apart from working and feeding the birds, we also got loads of pics of the snow scenes. I'll include them all here, as I think my Mum may want to get some of them printed for making cards...

Back at home, the icicles had reached a huge size:

and the splashing from the leaky gutter has iced the bin:

Well, it's all melting now, and it's raining, but it's going to cold again tomorrow night. No more snow for now I think, but plenty of frost - which is better for work in the woods, really.

Mike

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Snow scenes in Rye, Dec 2010

It started snowing yesterday evening, and this morning it looked like this:

The side roads have the deepest snow:

In our front garden there was over 10 inches of snow:

and we won't be getting any solar water for a while:

all the bins look like this:

Our cars our buried, though the land rover could still get out if we needed to:

and where we have a leaky gutter, the slow melting of snow on the roof from heat inside the house has made an icicle:

At least Rye Hill is reasonably clear:

But Udimore road isn't looking so good:

Deadman's Lane is trying to live up to its name, with an icy covering:

There are still people driving on it though:

The train line is another matter - there's nothing moving there:

Going through Rye, the main roads aren't too bad. Here's the Landgate:

Some cars look like they're staying here for a while:

Market Road looks a bit risky:

as does Mermaid Street:

In fact, the A259 isn't great:

Away from the roads, there's some great views:

and it's still snowing, with wind blowing what's already fallen around:

Maybe we'll head up to the wood again before it melts...

Mike

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