This weather threatens our wildlife

It's very pretty - but it's very cold.  The prospect of the freeze continuing for over a week, perhaps two weeks and perhaps even longer is becoming increasingly worrying. 

This picture of an otter was taken at the RSPB nature reserve at Strumpshaw Fen in East Anglia (by former RSPB staff member Richard Porter).  It will find it difficult to fish in frozen lakes and will be looking for open areas of water and other food to get through the freeze.  Bitterns, herons and kingfishers will face similar challenges.

Today the RSPB is launching emergency action to help our threatened wildlife:

1) We are organizing emergency feeding of bitterns, Dartford warblers, and cirl buntings (all threatened species vulnerable to the impacts of extreme cold).

2) We ask the public not to disturb flocks of wetland birds, including ducks, geese, swans and wading birds. Disturbance causes these birds to expend energy they cannot replace pushing them to the brink.

3) We ask the public to feed garden birds - they need that help more than ever now. 

4) We ask Britain’s farmers to spare a thought for threatened birds on their land by putting out supplementary food, especially in the form of grain tailings or residues from last year’s crops.

I can just remember the 1962/63 winter - but my memories are of playing in the snow.  That prolonged freeze had a massive impact on our resident bird numbers - species like wrens are thought to have declined by as much as 75% in numbers.  I say 'thought' because back then we didn't have the sophisticated bird monitoring programmes that we do now eg the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey.  In fact, the hard winter and its impact on wildlife was one of the reasons that widespread monitoring of common birds was established.

We aren't yet in the same position as 1962/63 - but there is no immediate forecast of respite from low temperatures, frozen lakes, frozen ground and snow cover.  As far as birds are concerned then small species are likely to suffer more than large ones, and insect- and fish-eaters more than seed-eaters.  Life will be tough in the big freeze for wrens, pied wagtails, robins, green woodpeckers, treecreepers, kingfishers, herons, bitterns and water rails.  You can see why many species migrate to avoid all this bother!