With the freezing temperatures and snow covered ground, wildlife are going to be finding life a lot harder than usual. We are already in the 'hungry gap' for birds; the time of year where the winter berries and seeds have gone and the insects have yet to arrive. You may see more birds coming into your gardens and more urban areas this time of year, looking for shelter and a chance of some food. Feeding the birds has never been more crucial, it is literally a matter of life and death for them.
Fieldfare in the snow - Martin Casemore
As well as the birds, other wildlife will be suffering too. The earth is hard so badgers will be unable to dig for worms, prey will be hiding away so will make it harder for foxes and birds of prey such as owls to catch anything. The grass is covered by snow so rabbits and hares will have to use up more energy trying to dig through it to graze.
So spare a thought for our wild animals during this cold spell and look for ways that you can help:
Reduce disturbance. Feeding is so important for animals right now so reduce disturbance in wildlife areas such as on the sea front and tide lines where waders and gulls are finding food as well as forest areas where badgers may be foraging. We do not want them to use their precious energy trying to get away from humans!
Feed the birds in your garden or park area. Even if you don't have bird seed, birds will appreciate cooked rice thrown out for them. If you can, put out fat balls or peanuts as these provide a lot of energy and much needed fat to keep the bird warm. You might even see unusual visitors to your garden such as fieldfares (above) and redwings who are desperately looking for food too.
Blackbird on table - Chris Gomersall
Keep some unfrozen water out for wildlife as well as food because ponds and puddles will have frozen over elsewhere. Allow wildlife access to unfrozen clean drinking water through the cold period and make sure to check your bird baths as often as possible.
Put out food scraps for animals. In desperate times, mammals will appreciate chopped up pieces of cheddar cheese, leftover meat and carcasses from your roast dinner as well as fat scraps. Squirrels will also appreciate a helping hand with some nuts such as unsalted peanuts, walnuts and hazelnuts.
Grey squirrel - Nigel Blake
The snow is also a fantastic opportunity to find wildlife footprints! What's visiting you? Find out more about animal tracks here.
Even though we seem to have escaped the worst of the snow down here, and it's not as much as we have had in the past, Dungeness still looks very picturesque!
Dungeness in the snow - Louise Kelly
Our lack of visitors this week due to the bad weather has meant that we don't have a lot of bird sightings to share unfortunately. The black-throated diver is still on the reserve as are the smew, pintail and goldeneye. We had a small flock of barnacle geese at ARC and have been seeing merlin around the reserve too. There are not many waders around but we have seen large flocks of golden plover and lapwings as well as the odd snipe. Some of the smaller lakes are freezing up so there might be a good chance of seeing bittern as they venture further out from the reeds to catch fish.