Winter

Possibly the best place in Britain to view wild common cranes in winter is Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Hickling Broad and Marshes reserve. Between November and February at sunset common crane can be seen coming in to roost at the raptor roost watch point at Stubb Mill.

In spring and summer cranes are very vulnerable to disturbance at breeding sites but sightings of flying and feeding birds are regular in the Hickling, Horsey and Martham areas of the Norfolk Broads.

Visitors to NWT Hickling Broad, during visitor centre opening periods, can obtain further information on opportunities to view cranes from the centre staff.

One of Norfolk’s great wildlife spectacles is the sight and sound of huge flocks of pink-footed geese in winter. The best viewpoints to see geese flying in and out of traditional roosts at dawn and dusk are at Snettisham RSPB reserve in West Norfolk and on the coast at Brancaster and Wells next the Sea in North Norfolk.

Sunset or sunrise between November and February are the best times to view big numbers. The fields either side of Lady Ann's Drive at Holkham (https://www.holkham.co.uk/nature-reserve-beach/introduction) are excellent places to view big numbers of geese during the day and as well as pink-footed geese, you are likely to see Brent geese, greylag geese, Canada geese and white-fronted geese. The Washington hide at Holkham (15 minutes walk west on the inland side of the pines from Lady Anne’s Road) is a great goose viewing point and at dusk birds fly on to the marshes to drink and bathe before going to roost.

You may also see large flocks of pink-footed geese feeding on sugar beet fields several miles inland of the North Norfolk coast – the Docking to Burnham Market area is a good area but exact locations vary each year. Please avoid disturbing these feeding birds by going on to private farmland.

Flocks of pink-footed geese may number several thousand but flocks of other species, such as Brent geese, are usually much smaller numbering in the hundreds.

Picture by Elizabeth Dack

If rats become a problem at bird feeding sites, it may be necessary to cease feeding for a period to discourage them. Rats are most active at night so removing feeders at night and ensuring no uneaten food remains on the ground overnight will also reduce the likelihood of this problem. Careful location of hanging feeders away from walls covered with ivy or climbing plants will make it harder for rats to access them and pole mounted feeders can be made inaccessible to rats if a slippery metal or plastic pole is used or a collar is mounted below the feeder.

If you wish to deter squirrels from hanging bird feeders, then use squirrel proof metal feeders which allow access to small birds but have a squirrel proof metal mesh preventing access to squirrels. Alternatively use pole mounted feeders sited away from overhanging trees.

Picture by Sue Seeley

Good hygiene at bird feeding stations is important especially during periods of warm weather. Birds are subject to a range of diseases many of which are transmitted by droppings. If food is contaminated with droppings, this can spread avian diseases. Bird tables and feeders should be kept clean and free from droppings. Feeders and tables can be cleaned using a 10% disinfectant solution or boiling water. 

Moving feeders around your garden will help prevent a build up of droppings on the ground below. Food should not be allowed to go mouldy. When cleaning feeders, it is advisable to wear gloves and wash your hands afterwards. On bird tables, or if feeding birds on the ground, do not provide more food than is eaten in a single day and put out new food each morning.

Picture by Robin Blackmur

There are many garden flowers which provide nectar attractive to both butterflies and bees. If you want to attract butterflies try and ensure that you have some nectar producing plants in flower from late winter and early spring all the way through until late summer and autumn. There are a huge range of plants that butterflies will feed from but among the best are mint, catmint, marjoram, oregano, buddleia, iceplant, honesty, sweet rocket, lavender and wallflowers.

The nectar from ivy flowers in autumn is very attractive to red admiral butterflies. Remember too that fallen fruit in autumn will be fed upon by red admirals, commas and peacock butterflies.

Wildlife gardens should also include the food plants for butterfly caterpillars. A small patch of nettles in a sunny location may attract red admirals, commas, peacocks and small tortoiseshells to lay eggs. Holly blues lay their eggs on holly (first generation) and ivy (second generation), orange-tips on garlic mustard and painted ladies on thistles. So try and ensure both nectar for the adult butterflies and food plants for their caterpillars are available. For further information visit www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk
Picture by Jenny Johnson

You should clean your nest box out each year, you should wait until the autumn in case there are any second broods in the box. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 only permits the cleaning out of nests between 1 August and 31 January, and states that any dead eggs must be destroyed. Make sure you wear gloves and wash your hands afterwards as nesting material can contain parasites and bacteria.

Picture by Elizabeth Dack

This is actually quite a common occurrence, and is due to the tadpoles from the spring/summer missing the trigger for metamorphism. The reason for this could be due to the water temperature of the pond affecting the development rate, the lower the temperature the slower the development. A problem for many ponds is a lack of sunlight, this could be due to overhanging trees. Sometimes carefully pruning can let more sunlight into the pond and this will help the ponds flora and fauna life.

There is no need to worry about the tadpoles as they can actually over winter in the pond and once the temperatures increase the following year metamorphism will take place.

Picture by Hilary Tate.

These are redwings or fieldfares. Both species are immigrants from Scandinavia and northern Europe arriving in the UK during autumn and departing in early spring. Both species will visit gardens to plunder supplies of holly and hawthorn berries.
 
The redwing is the smaller of the two and can be distinguished from the more familiar song thrush by being generally darker and slimmer. The redwing is dark russet brown above with a very conspicuous buff coloured eye-stripe. The under parts are whitish, streaked dark brown with a large and conspicuous red coloured flank and under wing – hence its name. The Fieldfare is a larger bird, comparable to our Mistle thrush, and can be distinguished from all other UK thrushes by the combination of blue-grey head and rump and chestnut back and wings. The fieldfare is also quite a noisy bird, particularly in flight, and its harsh ‘chack-chack’ calls will quite often alert you to its presence.

Picture by Elizabeth Dack

 

The British Trust for Ornithology carries out many surveys to monitor bird populations and actively seeks assistance from members of the public. For more information, go to their website at www.bto.org. Alternatively you can take part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch which normally takes place in January.  

Picture by Pat Adams

 

The basic advice is to leave it alone. If your pond is of a reasonable size and depth a covering of ice is unlikely to do any harm and is a natural occurrence that native wildlife is conditioned to cope with. Ice forming over shallow water may have an adverse effect on any frogs that are hibernating in the mud and in these circumstances it may be best to gently melt the ice by placing a saucepan of hot water on top. Smashing the ice is not recommended as the shock waves could harm wildlife and any fish.

If the ice looks like staying for a while it would be a good idea to melt an area over any shallow water so that birds can bathe and drink.

Expanding ice can damage a garden pond by putting excessive pressure on the pond walls. To prevent this float a plastic ball on the surface of the pond during cold weather, if the pond then freezes the ball will absorb some of this pressure helping to protect your expensive liner.

Picture by Elizabeth Dack

The numbers of duck wintering on the Broads and other waterbodies across East Anglia are influenced by weather conditions. With climate change, we are seeing a series of increasingly mild winters. Under such conditions, many visiting wildfowl are 'short stopping' on their migration, which means that they are now wintering further north and east than they used to. If we get a particularly cold winter, with waterbodies elsewhere in Europe freezing over, then we will see the numbers of wildfowl here in the UK increase. Data from the Wetland Bird Survey, coordinated by BTO, have been used to provide scientific evidence of this phenomenon and of short-stopping, both for wildfowl and many wader species. 

Picture by Elizabeth Dack

Male common frogs may lie dormant at the bottom of the pond overwinter and usually this is not a problem, so this may seem obvious but are the frogs dead or still in hibernation?

Regarding ice forming on your pond the advice is usually that if your pond is of a reasonable size and depth there will not be any problems as native wildlife is adapted to the weather conditions. If there are shallow areas of water then melting areas of ice help the wildlife in the pond and provide water for birds and other wildlife.

However, if ice has been present for prolonged periods it causes the toxic gases, naturally given off as by decaying matter in the pond, to build up causing winterkill. You can reduce the chances of this happening by opening up an area of ice by gently melting a small area of the ice by placing a saucepan of hot water on it or you can leave a floating object, such as a ball, in the pond that can be removed once the ice has formed.

If you would like more information about causes of death in frogs and toads visit Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.

Picture by Brenda Ward