Winter has arrived here with an early dump of snow, and our birds have been really enjoying the peanuts, fat balls crumbs and sunflower seeds.

One of the joys of winter is watching the birds at the feeding station, a tree in the front garden which is a open area free of ambush potential for the cats. As usual there have been surprise visitors, and this year a spotted woodpecker was one of the first.

Meanwhile we are privileged to have a small murmur of starlings which is putting on a special flight show every evening before coming noisily into roost in the back garden. I would guesss there is about 200 of them, so its pretty busy back there currently.

feeding the birds is a very easy way to attract more wildlife into your garden. Try to site your feeding station in a safe place for the birds. if you can see it from indoors even better because its a great sight.

No matter where you are, you are likely to get a few grateful visitors so its well worth the effort.