Hard times: Birds need plenty of high energy foods during the cold weather; small birds such as blue tits need to eat a quarter of their body weight each day. While most birds can usually cope with a short, cold snap, if freezing weather lasts more than a few days, finding sufficient food becomes a real struggle. Last winter was one of the harshest seen for many years, and putting out well-stocked bird feeders in your garden could be life-saving for many birds.

Something for everyone: To attract a range of bird species to your garden, try to provide a variety of foods and offer some on a bird table, as well as on the ground and in hanging feeders. For example, small seeds like millet attract birds such as house sparrows and collared doves. Flaked maize is a favourite of blackbirds, while tits and greenfinches relish peanuts and sunflower seeds.

Don’t forget that garden birds will also enjoy kitchen scraps. Stick to plain foods, such as stale cheese or cooked potatoes, and avoid anything salty or spicy. Don’t forget to provide a supply of water, especially during sub-zero temperatures when natural water sources will be frozen.

Keep it up: Once you have started to feed birds in your garden, keep it up: they will quickly come to rely on you! If possible, make sure that food is available early in the morning and late at night when birds are most in need of a quick energy boost.

Natural food: Providing supplementary food is important, especially during cold winter months. But if you can, try to provide a source of natural foods in your garden. Now is a good time to plant various bushes and shrubs.

Native plants, such as hawthorn, ivy and honeysuckle, provide berries in the winter for adult birds and insects for young birds in spring.

To make your garden even more attractive to wildlife, don’t be too neat and tidy. Leave an area ‘to go wild’ with plants such as thistles or nettles, and it will quickly become a wildlife haven, buzzing with insect life. Piles of logs and leaves are also great places for small creatures to hide under, which will, in turn, attract birds.

Join in: At the end of the month there is a week of autumn activities at BBOWT’s Sutton Courtenay Environmental Education Centre near Didcot, call 01235 862024 to find out more. Bring the family for a fun autumn trail and plenty of do-it-yourself craft activities.

To find out more about BBOWT nature reserves and wildlife conservation, visit www.bbowt.org.uk or call 01865 775476.