Boxing Day madness...

Bunting and bathers in the sunshine, this is the annual dip off Mundesley beach.

The event was very well attended this year with many onlookers and much jollity.

I have to say the 'dip' is more of a quick paddle than a swim but a lot of fun.

The ice has gone.

Happy Christmas to you all. Enjoy the day.

I tried to make a Christmas card but failed. I was going to use one of these photos as a background and write a greeting on top but although I could write the text it would not stay in place. By next Christmas I may have got it right.

Never mind the snow what about the ice?

The track out is glazed with ice and the slipway has taken on a new meaning. I am not a lover of 4wheel trucks but at the moment it is the only way to get up the slope. The sun is shining so the ice may ease by the middle of the day.

I live in hope.

Views from the back door ........

................ and one from the front.

We too have snow. Ok, not much but we are trying to suffer like the rest of you.

These shots were taken around eight o'clock this morning before it started to melt.

The sun is now shining and the sea temperature is about 8C so someone may be surfing but not here.

The end of the crab season.

Crab pots piled up to await the spring.

No more crab salad or cakes till then. Oh well ................

A young herring gull feeding on the beach near a couple of little plovers. They were finding plenty of food washed up with the seaweed.

Gulls on the beach...

...and an oystercatcher for good measure.

It was a bit chilly but there was no wind so not bad for the time of year.

Thinking of that, I think the last photo should be called "it's behind you".

Summer past.

Will they save the world for us?

I think this is an eider duck.

I have seen eider ducks in Scotland but not this far south before and they do come to our waters occasionally. This is a female and was on her own bobbing about on the swell.

The boat is yet another survey ship going up and down close to the shore. I know surveying can be a slow process when mapping sandbanks but the weeks they have been out there seem a bit excessive. By now they must know every grain of sand.

The pictures are new stock for the shop.

They are photos printed on canvas, some as taken and some that have been "got at" on Photoshop.

High tides and a north wind...

The gate at the bottom of the slipway was closed yesterday, for the first time this winter, to keep the surge at bay and was still closed this morning.

The sea is a bit quieter after yesterday`s excesses but still lively.

The sand has been taken off the beach revealing some of the old groyne supports, a drop of three or four feet, and a lot of sand.