Spinning ice disc phenomenon seen in British river for first time

A rare phenomenon normally associated with Scandinavia has been recorded on the River Otter in Devon for what could be the first time. The giant spinning disc of ice was spotted near Honiton by Roy Jefferies who was out walking his dog along the riverbank on Wednesday, January 7.

The slowly rotating ten foot wide and perfectly circular phenomenon which was stationary in the current and about six foot from the bank near where a stream joined the river. Mr Jefferies immediately called his friend, Graham Blissett, who lives nearby and has an interest in phenomena of this kind.

Mr Blissett said such discs were "very, very rare" and he had never heard of one forming in England before. "I couldn't believe it when he told me," Mr Blissett said. He grabbed his camera and raced to the river, where he captured photographs of the slowly turning disc of ice.



"I saw the most perfect circle of ice about two metres from the edge of the bank," said Mr Blissett. "It was about three metres in diameter and, on timing it, we discovered it was completing a revolution in four minutes and ten seconds.

After returning home, Mr Blissett carried out some research. "Ice discs can vary in diameter from under a meter up to an astonishing 200 metres seen in the River Ljusnan in Sweden," he said.

"It is thought that they are formed when a slow moving river current creates a slow turning eddy in which a rotating disc of ice grinds out its edges forming a gap between it and the surrounding ice."