Sounds of silence

The forest is quiet and still, an eerie silence clings to the land and one could be forgiven for believing nothing was happening, that the forest having come to a stand still. Far from it. Although every bough is bowed with yesterdays snow, now fixed in an icy embrace and powdery snow, easily 10cm and more blankets the land. The woodland is going about its business as usual, only today they're doing it a muffled landscape which absorbs their sounds.   In Brinken a huge herd of deer, 20 or more trot past 5m or so in front of us, we are as invisible to them as their approach was to us. A fox goes about its business in Great Huntley, usually you wouldn't see him, but for a glimpse maybe,  in the snow though his transit is easy to follow, that is until he spies us and disappears at speed. All the time birds are flitting by, alighting, flying and landing all in graceful silence. The only sound that persists throughout our walk is the unique sound of snow being compressed as we trudge through this winter wonderland, absorbing all its transient beauty.