Lacy patterns in icy puddles

I went birdwatching along the River Esk and the John Muir Walkway in Musselburgh today. it was very cold and I was very impressed by the beautiful patterns in the icy puddles.

There were a lot of birds along the river and the coast. I particularly enjoyed watching a group of turnstones, scurrying around, doing what they're meant to do (turning stones to find the food hidden underneath). I was very impressed by the size of the some of the stones they were turning! Plus the noise, quite a clatter as the stones turned and fell.

Then I saw a curlew in the water, digging around to find food. A black headed gull was following it and picking at the surface of the water every time the curlew stopped digging. Definitely seemed as though the gull was taking advantage of the little bits of food that were floating away from the curlew.

This more than made up for the fact that on the three lagoons, I saw no birds at all apart from a solitary carrion crow. The lagoons can be a wonderful place for birdwatching or totally empty as they were today.Even without birds, they did look beautiful in the cold winter light.

As did the boating pond.

Lovely wander and I hardly felt the cold once I had been walking for a while....

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