Birdwatch at Arundel Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

A few weeks ago, a week or two before our first freezing weather, we noticed our ducks eating far more than usual. The reason? They could sense the cold weather coming.

While you are enjoying the warmth of your home at night, your perky little garden birds are sitting tight in some dense undergrowth, or if the weather is really cold and hard, they may seek out a hole in a tree, corner of a shed or a nest box you put out for them to use in the spring.

And it's not just the comfort of a roof and central heating that sets our lives apart from theirs; we have light whenever we want it.

For the feathered friends in your garden, the day currently starts about 6.45am and ends by 4.30pm; then there is a long, cold night to sit through. And these are terrestrial birds, with places to hide from the elements. Imagine life for an eider duck on the North Sea!

Your garden blue tits will have spent up to 88 per cent of the available daylight hours foraging for food; they simply do not stop eating!

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette November 28