Shrewsbury - Ice and Goosanders!

I popped into town today and checked out the River near the Welsh bridge - still partly frozen although a slow thaw is setting in. Here's the view from the bridge (a couple of Goosanders below if you look closely)






Looking back from Port Hill bridge, the big freeze is slowly losing it's grip.....






Let's nip back to check out those Goosanders! Certainly close but initially uninspiring in the flat light.






But then, out came the sun and whether it was the angle or ice laden water, the reflections took on the most amazing patterns! There is absolutely no trickery or computer effects here! Problem is, the reflections rather dominate the birds and large images look even more impressive - an amazing feature though!










An almost normal shot as this Goosander cruised into less illuminated water.....







Still, as every photographer knows, the secret of many striking images is nearly always..... 'in the light'.....