Canal freeze-up

The Union canal has been completely frozen for at least a week now. All the water birds - swans, ducks, moorhens and coots, have gone - where exactly I don't know. Some may have gone to the Water of Leith, though even it has started to freeze round the edges, others to larger expanses of freshwater (many of these are frozen too) or perhaps to the seashore. Small birds are so much more visible at present against the white backdrop. Wrens in particular I've seen so many of along the river and canal. No doubt this makes them more vulnerable to predators, in additon to the danger they face from the intense cold. Woke briefly in the middle of last night to hear snow granules blowing hard against the window, then the unexpected and eerie sound of a tawny owl calling through the snowstorm.

Walking on ice-covered Union Canal, Edinburgh