THE LONG ROAD THROUGH WINTER BEGINS

Autumn has managed to get through most of the season with mild weather, but the road to cold winter weather is well underway.

Snow has been seen in some parts of the country and in the last few days further reports of snow are being made.

But now overnight frosts are now becoming the norm and the wildlife is taking more refuge in and around the garden.

The bird feeders are being visited by more and more birds, and I’m sure a number of small mammals are nicking a few peanuts at night.

It’s hard to see which birds are coming along, with the dark mornings and evenings, so the weekend is the only time they can be counted and seen.

Will the garden be visited by fieldfares, redwings or waxwings? A hope remains, but given the scarcity in recent winters, it’s not too high.

There is probably more hope of seeing snow, which would prove more popular in the house (with the children) than the wildlife outside.

However it’ll be much easier to see which animals are visiting the garden!

WINTER COLD INSTEAD OF AUTUMNAL STORMS

Finding a suitably warm and safe place to roost during the long, cold winter nights is something small birds in particular need to find.

The small number of house sparrows that have been roosting above the front door for weeks now, and despite the leaves falling off they appear to be sticking it out.

Most are now congregating around the outflow pipe from the bathroom, which must offer some warmth because of the heat from baths and showers.

They’ll probably be forced to find another roost site suitable for the depths of winter, but perhaps the conifer hedge, just a few feet away will afford the right warmth and protection form the nuisance local cats.

It’s expected that the garden will start to fill with more birds in the coming weeks, as the lure of ‘free’ food becomes too much, particularly as natural supplies diminish.

The usual winter visits from the long tailed tits must surely be coming soon, and the elusive redwings, fieldfares and the even more elusive waxwings are still to be sighted in the garden in a decade.

Next weekend the nest boxes will be checked, cleaned and the cameras given a quick look over, ready for the potential winter roosting birds.

Fingers crossed the birds don’t block the cameras up or technology fails and delivers infrequent or no video feed.

Then there’s the added problem of birds being sensitive to the cameras and only nesting in boxes with out cameras.

Until then it’ll be interesting to see who all wildlife in the garden will cope with the onset of the cold winter conditions, that is until an autumnal storm comes along.