The Winter Fox

 It is quite unusual in my locality to see a fox moving around the fields in daylight and, yet, here was one out and about in the early afternoon. He has a very distinctive tail and I will know him if we meet again.

Caen Hill - the longest line of locks (iced)

 

One of the longest continuous lines of locks in the UK. Twenty-nine of them in a row rising 237 feet in two miles; a major success of Georgian engineering, which completed the Kennet and Avon canal joining Bath to London.   

At the time, it was cheaper and quicker to move goods by canal than by road and the canals thrived until the railways out-competed them.

They are now protected for leisure (and for the many people who live in their boats on them) and for the wildlife they harbour – a few examples of which were in residence on this cold January visit when the canal was crazed with ice. 

Squirrels Island

 

Red squirrels are rare in England, but there is a colony on the Isle of Wight (where I was at the end of last year) and I renewed my long-standing attempt to get photographs of them. 

Having looked for them in woodlands and copses, fields and hedgerows, I finally found then in a small cliff-perched park om the edge of Shanklin. The day was dull and wet and so the light was poor and the squirrels are quick - but at last I have a few photos! 

The view from the park - Luccombe