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For Christmas this year, all my friends and relatives will be receiving bird boxes. I’ve developed something of an obsession with DIY bird boxes, and currently have a pile of them in my front room, waiting to be wrapped in festive paper. I feel like

the snow in their stride - by running and flapping their wings at the same time they can travel at nearly the same speed as usual.The wild birds are out in force. Like many others at this time of year, I’m spending an inordinate amount of time feeding

tough, or something isn’t working out as I want it to, I remind myself that actually I’m lucky I’m not a wild bird. Living in constant threat of predators, it’s easy to see the difficulties they face. During the breeding season, I find it amazing

have pointed out, snow does make birds all the more obvious. When I peered out later in the day, the apple tree was bending under the burden of several plump … birds. They were silhouetted against the morning light so not immediately identifiable

The danger of frozen water pipes is on my mind during this freezing weather, but I'm also concerned that garden birds are suffering, too.Water in my bird bath quickly turns into a solid sheet of ice on cold nights, and hasn't been thawing out during

Last winter, when I went to great trouble to feed the birds in my garden, my offerings were largely ignored. This winter, I'm trying again, leaving seeds, chopped apples and suet pellets for ground-feeding birds such as robins, blackbirds

. Disgusting, even if the fox was rather handsome.Despite his rural situation, the birds and beasts were similar to those I find in London. The carrion crows that craw four times in East Dulwich, are replaced by rooks here, with their slightly less guttural

. At this time of year, I make sure the bird tables and feeders around the garden are always well stocked. Although peanuts have rocketed in price recently, they’re so popular with my local birds that we bought a whole sack of them a couple of months ago. I put

This autumn I intend to add to my collection of fruiting shrubs for birds. I’m going to take advantage of the fact that plants are available more cheaply now we’ve hit bare-root planting season.Unlike pot-grown specimens, bare-root plants are dug

With so many people reporting sightings of unusual birds in their gardens - and observing some pretty odd behaviour - I'm struggling to entice anything other than pigeons to my plot. I don't know if I should even take part in this year's RSPB Big