As I sit watching the swirling snowflakes through my window further thickening the already substantial covering of snow over the garden, I ponder on the staggering ability of birds, encased only in a mere bundle of feathers, to withstand such intense overnight cold and live to flock to the feed I have provided for them.

The truth is many do not survive either the hard winter season or the driest, wettest, windiest times of the year but, thankfully, enough get through to bring joy and interest to our wonderful Oxfordshire countryside.

Whilst we sympathise with our smaller passerines, we ought not to forget the plight of our raptors such as kestrel and sparrowhawk. The former dependent mainly on small mammals and insects and the latter on small birds and, I am sure, like me you have cursed the visiting of the sparrowhawk as it clatters into a bush and takes away some nurtured gem like goldfinch or sparrow. We need to temper our rage with understanding, for the raptors also are experiencing a life of hardship, often close to starvation, and in their endeavours to sustain themselves fail on most occasions to catch and secure a meal. Consequently, many succumb to starvation.

Some birds will, in hard times, move away from our shores and seek refuge in more clement conditions on the continent and others, experiencing a difficult time in the harsher parts of Europe, will find solace through food from the meagre pickings still to be found by adaptable species on such plants as the rowan and the beech.

Nowadays, with people feeding wild birds in their gardens, a lifeline is thrown to many of our favourite birds, although some, such as Jenny Wren, will lose numbers through being frozen to death during the cold nights, mostly as a result of depletion of the body fat cover that is essential to sustain them, but has been used up as the food to replace it is unavailable.

With disease also to contend with, it is small wonder many struggle to survive. Our smaller passerines do well to reach their second birthday but survive they do, and in enough numbers to carry on their welcome place in our world. We play an increasingly important part in their lives through activities aimed at making life a little easier for our garden entertainers.

Barry Hudson Oxford Ornithological Society