To and fro in the snow

This moorhen doesn't seem to have been able to make up it's mind - first it went one way, then, in the middle of nowhere, changed direction and went back again. I wonder what made it change it's mind!! We did see some fox pawprints further down the river, but I think that would have been too far away to scare it. At least this little bird was light enough to walk on the ice safely.

Towards the end of our morning dog walk we heard the sound of sirens, all too familiar on the parkways around the city. However, we were surprised to see three fire engines parked at the end of the rowing lake, close to where I took the sunset photograph last week.

A couple of our neighbours had been walking in the area, and told us that a black labrador had gone through the ice, having decided to chase some of the many swans that were all grouped together in a couple of small areas of open water. The dog had been in the water for about fifteen minutes, and couldn't get through the unbroken ice, back to the shore.

Luckily the firemen managed to rescue it, and an emergency vet came out as well, as I'm sure it must have been suffering from hypothermia. I'm so glad that our dogs now give ice a wide berth - though this is the result of a similar experience with it when they were young and foolish.