All the birds have stripped the berries

It was a cheerful festive sight, heavy clusters of red berries dripping like beads of wax from the deep green of the cotoneaster. 

Not that I haven't noticed the covert birdy birdy num-num operation going on right under my nose.  Now all the berries are gone - not -one left - into the warm little feathered tummies of our local bird life. This cold snap has underpinned their more relaxed habitual foraging with a more urgent need. Frost is frost and birds get hungry. So throw out stale breadcrumbs or a bit of bird seed if you can to help them out this winter. Just place a handful on a branch if you don't have a bird table. ( Not on the floor or the foxes will have it.) Be nice to wildlife now and they will hang around and eat all those nasties for you next spring and summer.

Image courtesy of  http://www.freefoto.com