Arctic Blast

As I feared, winter hitting us now just as the first ducklings are due to hatch. Today was horrendous with an Icy Arctic blast blowing from the North straight up the riverside, sleet that was horizontal and wind chill that numbed the hands in minutes ! 

Watching Penny on the nest with no cover from the gale force winds and sleet, I marvelled at her ability to keep the clutch warm in such atrocious conditions. Having not seen her off the nest or eat for 4 days, I ventured over and gave her a sodden wholemeal roll, broken up into small enough pieces to eat on the nest.
This I rarely do and only in exceptional circumstances - today was one of those times. Within minutes my hands were frozen and I struggled  to get my gloves back on. Getting the occasional snow shower in April is not unusual, but the gale force wind straight from the north pole was something else, it was bitter !! Could not get photo since hands were too numb to get the camera out of case, but similar to conditions in old photo above but with a stronger wind !