Loddon's new Ice Age

SNOW descended on Loddon almost a week ago now. But since then a continuous deep freeze has led to a steady ice invasion too. Head down to the marshy meadows next to the Chet and you start to understand how the eskimoes could have so many words for something as simple as frozen water. The River Chet remains overwhelmingly liquid of course. But for the field-draining dykes it's a different story. There's transparent thin ice. There's thick frosty stuff tesselated into irregular triangles, (pictured). But my eye is constantly drawn to a gravity-defying layer of what my kids call "cardboard ice" because of its thickness and the way that it bends undulatingly across and through the reeds. It often exists half-way up a reed - with fresh air both above and below. There is no doubt a simple scientific explanation - enlighten me someone please. For cardboard ice pictures and more visit this set on flickr.