The pond on the 27th December 2014

ooh, heck! did you manage to leave an air space for the fish? years ago mum had a small fishpond, she'd put a rew ping-pong balls in it in winter; when the pond froze, she'd take the balls off and that'd leave gaps in the ice

Yeah! none of it actually froze! the snow just managed to sit on and just under the surface until it bonded with some warmish water in the watering can and swiftly melted away!

I've got one of those floating silver ball things, it looks good when the breeze blows, drifting about the pond, and it also stops the whole pond freezing over