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Message: <blockquote data-quote="halftwo" data-source="post: 1684880" data-attributes="member: 45720">Brrrr at Moore.Thermal vest, long-sleeved T, two jumpers (one thick polo-neck), fleece, Barbour, hat, gloves, scarf...clearly I was under-dressed for the weather.It didn't help that, within the first yards trod, it was apparent that my (newish) boots had sprung a leak - well the left one had. (A nail?)Just-melted water soaked into my sock. Wind: twenty miles per hour (gusts of forty) - from the east. The hide faced east. The lake was half ice, half water. The wind blew across it and funnelled into the hide (not a building - just a screen with a roof). The benches were wet. Ice on the path.One other brave soul had been there since dawn! Trouble was there wasn't much to look at. I say not much: in front were several hundred gulls, and the lake also held a few duck, Little grebes, eight Herons, Coots... To the left the tip held tens of thousands of gulls. OK - there was lots to see. It was just that there weren't any rare-ish species. And there wasn't much commuting between tip and lake. So it was Herring gull study time - each one different and each one still a Herring gull. There were other species too - but the Herrings were just Herrings.As hypothermia began to rise from my left foot and invade it forced a move - a walk along to the Bittern hide. Much of this was on sheet ice - with a layer of water on top. Ice skates would have been better suited. But at least the effort of keeping upright while attempting to make progress was warming! And there were birds to see: Long-tailed tits pre-dominated. But others included Jays, Lesser redpolls, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Goldfinches, Redwings, Nuthatches...The rain started before I slithered into the Bittern hide (I say hide - this was merely a screen: not even a roof this time), sleety rain. From the hide I could see reeds. No birds, just reeds. A Robin came and sat by my hand - but I had nothing to offer. After a minute it gave up on me and went in search of sustenance elsewhere.Something small flew a gap between phragmites. Patience... There! A Blue tit. That was the highlight.  The Robin tried me again: again it gave up - if it could have looked disgusted it would've.Back to the gull hide: circulation almost warming my sodden left foot. The wind as bad. On the way the bird of the day. Wait for it... Green sandpiper calling and flying along the lake looking for unfrozen foraging. Another look at several hundred gulls.  The wind blew through me. Time to go.</blockquote>

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