Wildlife watch: January

Keep an eye on wildlife in the garden and beyond this winter

'Even a light snowfall offers the opportunity of engaging in one of the most fascinating and rewarding of wildlife pursuits – looking for and interpreting animal tracks.'

Snow gives a perfect clue to animal activity

Animal tracks

Although our winters are less snowy than they once were, even a light fall offers the opportunity of engaging in one of the most fascinating and rewarding of wildlife pursuits - looking for and interpreting animal tracks. See if you can see what creatures live unexpectedly in your garden or in woods nearby - you might even solve the perpetual puzzle of where your cat goes and what he does on his mystery journeys. Even in the absence of snow, you will find much of interest in damp mud - especially alongside streams. Footprints there were my clue recently to the fact that water voles were back in our area.

Elf cup

Elf cup: brilliant fungi

Although most kinds of fungi disappear with the onset of frosts, there are nonetheless still little treasures to be found if you look for them. Many of the small species that belong to the group called cup fungi will be seen in damp places, on logs, soil and among moss. Unlike mushrooms and toadstools, which produce their spores on exposed flaps or gills, cup fungi produce theirs inside microscopic containers from which they are discharged explosively.

Robin

The robin: territorial

The robin is undoubtedly the nation's favourite garden bird and you won't be winter digging for long before one finds you and dines on the creatures your spade turns up. But they aren't quite the sweet and cosy creatures as they are generally depicted. They are extremely aggressive and exceptionally territorial, and if you see more than one red-breasted male in your garden, there will be trouble brewing - Christmas-card illustrations, of four or more sitting contentedly on a branch are pure fantasy.

Siskin

The siskin: a winter visitor

If you are lucky and live near to conifer plantations, or to damp birch or alder woods, you may have siskins visit your garden, particularly in winter. This small, yellow-green finch was once a bird of ancient Scottish pine forests, but it has now moved southwards, probably following the modern conifer plantings, and it is now fairly common, especially at this time of year when huge flocks migrate here from northern Europe to supplement our resident birds.

About the author

Professor Stefan Buczacki writes about wildlife every month in Gardens Monthly magazine. He gained a first-class honours degree in botany at Southampton University, obtained a D.Phil. in forest science at Oxford and embarked on a career in research. In 1984 he began writing and broadcasting and has achieved numerous awards and distinctions as a naturalist. He is passionate about the British countryside and its fauna, and this is no more apparent than in his 50th book Fauna Britannica, the result of four years' research. The book includes a foreward by HRH the Prince of Wales and is published by Hamlyn.

Images supplied by David Chapman Wildlife Photography