Jeziorki swans and bonus shots

The shortest day. Although the sunset is now getting later, so is sunrise, which will won't start appearing over the horizon any earlier until 3 January. Not much snow compared to Decembers past, and the ice is encroaching the ponds. Below: the swan family, the five surviving cygnets and their parents; soon they'll be having to fly away to find ice-free water.

Hold on - who's this paddling around the middle pond (below)? There were five cygnets with their folks in the southernmost pond - so is this the missing sibling - or has this cygnet flown in from somewhere else, where the water's already frozen?

Below: the photo I'd wished I'd taken but didn't. When I left for London earlier this month, I lent my neighbour Tomek my Nikon  CoolPix P900, and he captured this marvellous picture of a parent swan giving one of its cygnets flying lessons. Perfect composition, focus and exposure.

The new gated level crossings at Nowa Iwiczna and W-wa Dawidy (below) were activated while I was in London last week. Interesting little barrier for pedestrians mounted (to left of frame) for passengers on the 'up' platform. Light dusting of snow, -1C, Tuesday evening. Incidentally, picking up on Ian Wilcock's comment earlier about the premature lowering of the barriers - I timed this, and it was exactly three minutes between the barriers going down and my train town reaching the level crossing. About two minutes too long!

Below: be shocked, Warsaw, be shocked. Monday morning, 18 December, and the PM2.5 particulate concentration is five times higher than the maximum allowable level, while PM10 particulates were three times higher. The result - yellow smog sitting on top of us, the top of Palace of Culture just about clear of it.

Below: final bonus shot - flying in to Warsaw through the fog (smog not too bad this morning), Theresa May and half her government on the RAF A330 Voyager.

This time two years ago:
A conspiracy to celebrate

This three years ago:
The Mythos and the Logos in Russia

This time four years ago:
Going mobile - I get a smartofon

This time five years ago:
The end was meant to end today (remember?)

This time six years ago:
First snow - but proper snow?

The time seven years ago: 
Dense, wet, rush hour snow

This time eight years ago:
Evening photography, Powiśle

This time nine years ago:
The shortest day of the year

This time ten years ago:
Bye bye borders - Poland joins Schengen