Deep Winter Reflection – Mid - January 2022 by Andy Harrison

Early morning in Mid-January.  The River Severn glides sluggishly through the Severn Valley and past the Country Park.  As it has since the last Ice Age ended around 10,000 years ago and glacial meltwaters broke through at Ironbridge taking this new path southwards..

First light reveals a white and frosty landscape coated with tiny sharp ice crystals formed as overnight temperatures dipped after dark.  Relatively warm and humid air contacting colder surfaces to allow icy crystals to form.  New shoots, grasses, bracken and dead vegetation left over from the summer months lie with a frosty coating in open areas.  Under thicker tree cover and in more sheltered spots the frost has not penetrated.  Long pale-yellow furry catkins hang from Hazel twigs like nature’s decorations and frozen water droplets cling like jewels.

A warm yellow-orange glow in the east hints at the rising sun.  As the skies grow light Song Thrush, Robins and Blackbirds strike up an early morning chorus.  Soon Jackdaws fly over. Their recognisable ‘chuck-chuck’ call joining in with a Green Woodpeckers’ piping laughter that resonates from the trees.  In the distance Canada Geese honk faintly.  Further up river, three Red Breasted Merganser silently glide out from the bank before taking off northwards on beating wings towards Bridgnorth.

The sun finally breaks the horizon as an orange globe hidden behind the trees before climbing into the clear blue sky.  As air temperatures lift, the frost sublimes to mist rising above the river.  At the Country Park’s bird hide, the first rays turn reeds and rushes on the pool edges a golden yellow.  The warming sun encourages smaller birds such as Blue and Great Tits, Dunnock and Robins to head for the feeders looking for breakfast.  Thin ice covers the pool surface, remaining undisturbed until waterfowl arrive to break it up.

Twelve months previously, mid-winter temperatures were milder.  The sky overcast and heavy with grey nimbostratus clouds from which the rain fell.  Scenery unlike the Victorian ideology.  No thick snow covers the ground and temperatures are not cold enough to cause the river to freeze over.

As with recent winters, mid-winter 2021/2022 appears to follow the same trend to be yet another ‘hottest one’ on record.  Nature’s delicate seasonal balance turned into turmoil due to a warming climate.  The summer’s high pressure systems lingering longer and preventing the low systems, which bring our colder weather, from sinking south in winter.