Cold northerly winds brought the first snow of the winter in January, with a few sleety showers starting on the 3rd January, followed by a second heavier wave of ‘proper’ snow arriving on the 5th. In the Broads the snow was for a time quite significant, with several inches settling. The icy weather continued for a few days, until heavy rain from the west commenced a rapid thaw. It has rained on and off since, which is not ideal weather for reed cutting, traditionally done around this time of year. A run of clear crisp days with a hint of breeze is the prayer of the Broads reed harvester in January. 

A winter walk in snow and frost is exhilarating, for dragging in cold fresh air deep into the lungs and blowing out clouds of warmed breath has a rejuvenating quality. It is also a wonderful time to watch wildlife, as the need for food gives animals and birds a confidence not seen in milder weather. Water rail, habitually concealed deep within reedbeds will suddenly reveal themselves, uninhibited they tread about on the snow-flattened reed. Paw prints of a bounding rabbit and pursuing fox appear overnight, as do deer and badger tracks. Their journeys tell stories normally hidden and untold. Winter provides many astonishing wildlife spectacles, the incomprehensible twists and turns of starling murmurations seemingly collectively choreographed, or an amalgam of wading birds forced off the mudflats in their thousands by a rising tide, meeting at roost and huddling together in a heaving mass.

It is the best time of year to see birds of prey, skeins of wild geese, bittern creeping along a dyke edge or hear a flock of ‘pinging’ bearded tits, wings whirring over the top of glistening reed heads. However, one wouldn’t expect the sight of a black-winged kite whilst out on a winter walk. A long staying individual of this exceptionally rare vagrant has been touring the country, eventually settling for the winter in the Norfolk Broads. The sudden spell of cold weather found the bird frequenting NWT Hickling Broad and Marshes and although it has moved around Horsey and the surrounding area, the aptly named Stubb Mill Raptor Watchpoint has been the best spot to look out for it. As this is the second, maybe the third, black-winged kite to visit the UK (it could well be the same bird that arrived at Hickling two years ago), along with the recent reliability of sightings at the reserve, ‘twitchers’ have been drawn from across the country. I spoke to one gentleman that had driven down from Edinburgh! Although we are becoming accustomed to seeing new arrivals from the Mediterranean, few would have predicted a black-winged kite spending the winter in the Norfolk Broads. The species spread into Spain from North Africa, and then into southern France in the 1990s. In 2023 a pair bred in Denmark! So, who knows?

More familiar winter visitors are fieldfare and redwing, although it appears fewer have arrived with us this winter, and it seems waxwing have been absent from Norfolk too. The number of ‘winter thrushes’ and waxwing arriving in the UK is less a circumstance of the cold weather, but the quality of the berry crop in Scandinavia and central Europe. Although counter-intuitive, a dry spring and summer as we had often results in a heavier crop of berries, hazelnuts and beech mast. One must assume the same occurred on the continent.

Being a lover of snowy weather, I went straight out for a walk in a local wood, and it was magical being in a lonely woodland whilst the snow fell around me. The sighting of a firecrest among the snow-covered branches of a holly was a highlight that will stay with me for some time. The poet Robert Frost summed it up nicely, ‘…the only other sound’s the sweep of easy wind and downy flake’. The open fields around the wood were also delightful, for the mantle of pure white which covers the countryside after snowfall has its own rare beauty. If the sun comes out there is an intensity of light rarely exceeded on the brightest day of summer. The following evening was clear, with a full moon, and my garden and surrounding fields becoming bathed in a vivid blue tint, for ‘…the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave a lustre of mid-day to objects below.’ Our townscapes are magically transformed too, sadly this beauty is fleeting, and even in the early hours the neat white sheets across our quiet streets become blemished by inconsiderate footsteps.

What to look for in February

In Norfolk’s woodlands, February finds the hazel’s catkins drooping down like newborn lambs’ tails. Snowdrops are already on the wane, being replaced along banks and hedgerows by the yoke yellow flowers of primroses. Warm February days may find toads and adders emerging from hibernation, and the first sulphur brimstone fliting through the garden. Mistle thrushes have been singing for some weeks now, and the repetitive ‘teacher, teacher’ call of the great tit, announces that a male has already staked a claim on a territory.

Take action

Late February is the time of year that, up and down the country, hundreds of volunteers man the verges of roads that dissect toad migration routes. Tens of thousands of frogs and toads are killed on our roads during migration, and in former years this would have been considerably higher. Now, in known problem areas, teams of volunteers collect the toads in buckets to carry them safely to the other side. Squashed amphibians isn’t a pleasant sight for anyone, and in some parts of the country it has prompted the closure of roads during the few weeks of spring migration. In areas where volunteers assist toads, casualty rates have decreased by 80 to 90%.

Despite increased bird activity, February is still a good time to put up a bird box in your garden. Suburban blue and great tits rely almost exclusively on nest boxes, and of course the odd Royal Mail letterbox. February is also a good time to consider sprinkling some wildflower seeds in the garden. Digging over a small patch in a sunny spot, then lacing it with native wildflower seeds will add a splash of colour in the summer and of course attract nectar feeding insects too.