Keep your eyes peeled on Nature UK for info on the new series of Autumnwatch next week.

Update 23 September: I've now blogged about the exciting plans for Autumnwatch 2010.

There have certainly been many people who made holes in the ice and still had fish and amphibian mortalities; and if you made a hole and had no mortalities, this doesn't prove a connection between the two things either. The animals might have survived anyway.

Looking after ponds in cold weather
Unless your pond is very shallow it's not likely to freeze solid so the water in a healthy ecosystem will usually retain sufficient oxygen to keep pond life such as frogs, newts and insects alive. Goldfish, koi and amphibians are actually pretty resistant to low oxygen levels.

Creating a hole in the ice actually doesn't seem to make any difference to oxygen levels. It is the plants in your pond that produce oxygen by photosynthesis. Photosynthesis needs light so if your pond collects snow, be sure to brush it off (but be careful not to step on the ice in case you break through!).

If your pond isn't carefully maintained and you keep too many fish in it, the oxygen levels can get depleted. This is because sediment and leaves that collect in the pond will encourage decomposers, and these, as well as your fish, use up oxygen during respiration. To get more oxygen into the pond you need to stir the water up so that deoxygenated water comes into contact with the air - this will need a pump or a fountain.

Take part in Pond Conservation's Big Pond Thaw survey to let them know how your pond got on in the Big Freeze - even if everything went...swimmingly!

Read more about pond care on the Pond Conservation website. Or for daily updates you can also look at pond expert Jeremy Biggs' blog.

And as always leave a comment below to ask any questions about ponds and pond life, and tell us about your experiences.

With such a rapid turnaround for the programme we had our work cut out to fit as much of your contributions as we'd have liked to. So we wanted to answer some of your questions and discuss some of your fascinating stories right here.

Competition for food sources is intensified by the arrival of snow as foraging is made even more difficult. We've had lots of questions about how to deter particularly aggressive feeder-hogging birds. Stephen Moss tells us that mistle thrushes and fieldfares are particularly good at doing this and will often persistently guard one tree. Unfortunately this is just the way nature is, but there are things you can do to help smaller birds get a look in at your feeders.

In true Autumnwatch/Springwatch/Snow Watch fashion a solution has come from some of you: EnglishFolkFan reported that to deter a blackcap bully she repositioned her feeders so that no single bird could guard all of them.

Have managed to put feeders where he can't see from his fav spot so others getting a look in. EnglishFolkFan (Twitter)

Winter bird feeds
We've had a few questions on cooking fat and whether it should be used in feeders. The RSPB says that cooking fat is bad for birds. It sticks to their feathers and provides a breeding ground for bacteria causing them all kinds of problems. Polyunsaturated margarines or vegetable oils are also unsuitable. Lard and beef suet however can be used as they re-solidify after warming and are not suitable for bacteria to breed on.

The RSPB also advise that where fresh coconut is ok, you should never use desiccated coconut as it may swell once inside a bird killing it. Thank you Tony for your question prompting us to highlight this!
Read all the RSPB's advice on their What food to provide birds page.

Unusual visitors
Loads of you have been seeing unusual visitors to your gardens and we've had some wonderful pictures in the Snow Watch Flickr group.
There have been an overwhelming number of reports of fieldfare and redwing gracing gardens around the country and your pictures have reflected as much.

You've also been spotting waders such as lapwing and woodcock. The cold weather freezes their usual foraging grounds forcing them to enter your gardens to find food. In terms of supplementing their feeding, the RSPB has advised us that there is really very little you can do for waders in your garden as they are not partial to the usual birdfeed but if you can ensure there is an area of your lawn free of snow this will allow them to attempt to pull worms and forage for insects on the ground.

Winter roosts
We've also had reports of mixed and larger than normal roosts with Bridgette Bradely reporting 7-8 wrens in one nest, Elizabeth Emmerson counting up to 15 disappearing into one roost and Gill Jarman insisting she's seen 18!

Questions about pond life through the Big Freeze? Have a look at our blog on Your ponds and the Big Thaw.

Thanks again for all your questions and photos and do keep them coming in.

I, and everyone here at Snow Watch, would like to thank you for taking the time to contribute to the blog, the Flickr group and the video uploader. What you sent us has had a profound effect on the way we constructed the programme. I would have liked to have included far more of your thoughts, pictures (especially your pictures, they were amazing) and videos.

If we had had more time to weave them in we would have, but it was so frantic some of our ideas fell by the wayside in the rush to simply make a reasonable hour of Snow Watch.

If you haven't looked at the BBC Snow Watch Flickr group please, please do. I don't think we have ever had such outstanding pictures.

Let's hope the weather eases off a bit and gives our wonderful wildlife a break from this relentless cold.

After the first snowfall you can see what's been going on all around your patch. I was horrified to see just how many times the fox had trotted around my chicken run! I saw that roe deer had come right up to the back door - I had absolutely no idea they wandered so far into the garden and around the house.

Just occasionally you can see where the track of a bird or mouse suddenly ends - with the unmistakable splay of the wings of an attacking bird of prey imprinted in the snow. It's the most wonderful detective work - when you are following in the footsteps of the fox, watching how he sniffs around here there and everywhere, you can practically see him trotting along in front of you.

If you fancy doing a bit of tracking in the show, I can heartily recommend this simple downloadable guide (PDF) to some of the most common animal tracks, for you or the children.

And if you think you're a bit of an expert see if you know what made these tracks.

Happy tracking!

(Read why I love tracking animals in the snow.)

We reckon we know most of them, what do you think?

If you're stuck on these or curious about mystery pawprints of your own have a look at this fabulous track sheet from BBC Breathing Places.

• Keep your bird feeders topped up daily with high energy foods such as sunflower hearts
• Put out some food on the ground (ideally clear away the snow first) to help ground feeding birds
• Put out fat balls - especially good for robins and long-tailed tits.
• Provide ice-free water for them to drink and bathe

And remember, on 30-31 January you can take part in the biggest national survey of garden birds, the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch - which will provide vital information on how our garden birds are coping with the Big Freeze.

1. Prolonged low temperatures and severe frosts, without breaks
2. Ice on trees and the ground
3. Freezing of rivers, lakes and shorelines
4. How much of Britain is under ice and snow
5. The timing of the freeze: the later it comes, the more birds die

So far, we can say that this winter ranks pretty highly on factors 1 and 4 - the cold spell has gone on for several weeks, and covered most of Britain. The other factors are less critical at the moment - though of course if the cold weather continues things may change.

And what about the coming spring? Are we likely to see numbers down for many of our common and familiar birds? In spring 1963 some species bred in much lower numbers than before: especially waterbirds such as the heron and kingfisher, and smaller birds such as the wren, goldcrest and long-tailed tit.

Things may be different this year - garden bird feeding will certainly help long-tailed tits, for example. It will certainly be interesting to see how the birds got on when we return for Springwatch.

Most importantly, how will bird populations be affected in the longer term?
Surprisingly, perhaps, the evidence here is that many species will recover very quickly - especially those that have several broods. Species such as the wren, robin and blue tit are very short-lived, and die off in huge numbers each winter anyway - so in three or four years time numbers should have returned to normal.

In fact what has been abnormal is the unprecedented run of very mild winters we have experienced over the past 20 years or so. From 1986 to 2008 Britain (and especially the south) experienced an unprecedented run of very mild winters, which has led to changes in our wildlife patterns:

• Early emergence of flowers and insects (see Springwatch surveys.)
• Early breeding of many birds (sometimes before Christmas).
• 'Summer visitors' overwintering (eg chiffchaff)
• A major fall in numbers of winter visitors (eg Bewick's swan and white-fronted goose), as birds stay further east of the UK.

Cold winters are also valuable for what some people see as restoring the balance of nature. For example:

• Hibernating creatures (bats, butterflies, bumblebees etc) are less likely to emerge and then get killed off by a cold snap, as has happened in the past few mild winters
• Birds are unlikely to start nesting too early (again, as happens in mild winters)
• Flowers are less likely to emerge and then get killed off by late frosts
• Viruses, parasites etc are killed off, which will benefit their hosts. (Again, mild winters tend to allow disease vectors to multiply)

Please tell us about your experiences of our wildlife in the Big Freeze

Stephen Moss is a series producer at the BBC Natural History Unit, with a special interest in British wildlife. He is author of the book Birds and Weather (Hamlyn, 1995).

That winter the freezing conditions lasted the whole of January, and were followed by a thaw, then another freeze-up in February. Three years later, 1982 saw even colder weather, with a new record low of minus 27 degrees at Braemar in Scotland.

But as I recall, much of the western part of Britain was ice-free during these winters, allowing birds to find sanctuary there - unlike the current conditions, where even Wales, the south-west and Ireland are snowbound. So the big question facing the forecasters - and Britain's wildlife - is: how long will this freeze last?

If it thaws in a week or so, and February is mild, then the current winter will rank with 1979, and the long-term effect on our wildlife will not be very severe. If, however, the blocking high continues to bring freezing weather from the east, and even more snow and ice, then we may see the kind of carnage our grandparents witnessed in the winters of 1940, 1947 and of course 1963.

What happened to Britain's wildlife in the 20th century's harshest winters?

1963 really was the Big One - the freezing weather lasted from Boxing Day until the first week of March, and snow fell somewhere in Britain every day for two months. The effect on our birdlife was devastating: as ornithologist James Fisher (the David Attenborough of his day) observed at the end of the winter: "it seems likely that at least half the wild birds living in the country before last Christmas are now dead".

Many birds simply fled the country, while millions of birds from the east took their place. But even so, large parts of eastern Britain were virtually bird-free for several weeks. All sorts of unusual visitors were found in gardens - including water rail, woodcock and grey partridge!

But for many birds, the only option was death: Britain's kingfisher population fell by 85-90%, as did that of the wren, goldcrest and Dartford warbler - a scarce heathland species that was all but wiped out, with just a dozen pairs remaining.

The winter of 1947 was in many places even worse than 1963 - producing an enormous death toll for ground-feeding birds such as the lapwing, skylark and redwing. That was because the cold spell came late that year, in February, when the birds' fat reserves were at their lowest, and they didn't have the strength to get away from the snow and ice.

If we do get a thaw in February this year, this winter will be most like 1940: short and sharp. Again, sedentary species such as the wren, goldcrest and treecreeper suffered badly. In Worcestershire, a flock of seven woodpigeons were found stuck to tree-boughs by ice. And in Dumfries, a flock of starlings took cover under a parked car during a snowstorm. Unfortunately the snow became so deep the car could not be moved, and the birds perished.

When we recall these earlier hard winters it's worth remembering an important difference: very few people fed garden birds in those days - especially during the two big freezes during and after the Second World War when food was rationed. Our national habit of feeding birds today will undoubtedly make a huge difference to the fate of some of our favourite species.

Please tell us about your experiences of our wildlife in the Big Freeze

Stephen Moss is a series producer at the BBC Natural History Unit, with a special interest in British wildlife. He is author of the book Birds and Weather (Hamlyn, 1995).

That's about 4g for the blue tit and 7g for the robin - which may not sound like much, but is an awful lot of seeds to find for such small birds. That's why feeding your garden birds is so crucial in these freezing conditions - it really will make the difference between life and death for many of them.

Our wildlife has all sorts of strategies to avoid the problems caused by the Big Freeze:

Hibernation: hedgehogs, dormice, bats and many insects have simply gone to sleep, and won't wake up until the spring. In some ways the freeze is good for them - it avoids them emerging too early, as happens on mild winter days in 'normal' winters.

Strength in numbers: birds form larger flocks than usual - it helps them seek out the best places to feed, and also enables to them to huddle together at night to keep warm; so your nestbox may now be home to up to a dozen wrens!

Seeking a new home: many species will radically alter their habits during cold weather - so look out in your gardens for unexpected visitors, including waterbirds such as moorhen, water rail, and snipe, which struggle more than most to find food.

Moving away: have you noticed that many familiar birds have simply disappeared from your area? Lapwings and redwings are especially sensitive to cold weather, and head south and west at the first sign of snow. High altitude birds move down to sea level; while many waterbirds such as the kingfisher head towards the coast, seeking ice-free water where they can feed. And many of our garden birds have already hopped across the Channel to seek warmer climes.

Moving here: these birds are replaced by birds from farther north and east, such as ducks, geese and swans from mainland Europe; these also head south and west, and end up here in the UK, especially on our south-coast estuaries.

And last, but not least, staying put: predators and scavengers, such as raptors, owls and crows, will simply stay where they are and wait for other creatures to weaken or die - easy pickings for them...

In summary, here are this winters likely losers and winners...

LOSERS
Garden birds, especially ground feeders such as the dunnock and thrushes, whose normal food supply is covered with snow.
Small birds which don't normally visit bird tables, such as the stonechat and treecreeper.
Waterbirds, especially smaller, sedentary ones such as the moorhen and kingfisher.
Small mammals: like small birds, voles, shrews and mice lose heat very easily, and need to feed constantly.

WINNERS
Scavengers, such as gulls, crows and buzzards; and of course foxes - there's plenty of dead stuff out there for them to eat (though if it gets covered by snow or frozen this can still cause them problems).
Predators: birds such as the peregrine can easily pick off weakened prey; while foxes take advantage of frozen lakes and ponds to grab roosting ducks.
Birdwatchers! Especially if you live in the south and west, where there may be plenty of new arrivals to look out for - so keep your eyes peeled...

Please tell us about your experiences of our wildlife in the Big Freeze

Stephen Moss is a series producer at the BBC Natural History Unit, with a special interest in British wildlife. He is author of the book Birds and Weather (Hamlyn, 1995).

And sure enough something has.

A BBC commissioner had noticed there was rather a lot of snow about. "Must be a bit tough for wild life in the snow..." she mused. "Hang on... perhaps there's a programme in this - if we move quickly. What shall we call it? Er... I know, how about Snow Watch, a bit like that Autumnwatch. Hey, good idea."

That was Wednesday - and now we're flat out, putting together a programme for the middle of next week!

As usual, to make it a real success, we're asking for your help.

On thing we've just heard is that the record for the most number of wrens in one nest box (trying to keep warm) has been broken. We are desperately trying to contact the man in Lancashire who reported it. The rumour is he filmed it too. (By the way the old record was an incredible 61!!)

See you next Wednesday... Gulp!

So please, please, if you have a moment, post a comment below and tell us your stories, your questions, your observations of what's going in the natural world during this, the hardest winter we've had for 30 years.

Thank you very much, and don't forget you can post your snowy pictures on the new Snow Watch Flickr group and send in your snowy videos to the Autumnwatch video uploader. We're standing by to try to get them into Snow Watch!

Update: 22 January 2010: We've made a new post to answer some of your questions and discuss some of your fascinating stories.

• Two of the three beaver families released into Knapdale Forest, Mid-Argyll, in May, have built loges. These are the first beaver lodges to be constructed in the wild for over 400 years in Scotland.
• These lodges are impressive structures, measuring 5m long by 2m high by 7m wide.
• Beavers build lodges to shelter in during the day. This provides them with warmth and protection. The lodges usually consist of two chambers, accessed from the loch by an underwater passage.
• The first chamber is where the beavers spend a few minutes drying off before moving into the large chamber, which is extremely dry and cosy.
• In a nutshell, this means they are happy, settled beavers and may be thinking about kits in the spring!

Painted ladies:

• The Butterfly conservation society received over 12,500 sightings in our online survey for the painted lady butterfly during 2009.
• Nearly 10,500 people have taken part. This is amazing.
• All these records are very useful, but perhaps the most exciting were the four reports we received in mid-October, each of painted ladies migrating southwards out to sea from the south coast of England.
• This is the first time Butterfly conservation have been informed of any such sightings, and therefore solves the mystery as to whether painted ladies attempted to 'tough it out' and died trying during our winters or returned southward migration to warmer climes.
• Three of these return migration sightings were submitted to the online survey and all three of these observers had seen the appeal for records on Autumnwatch!

Harlequin ladybirds:

As we reported in Autumnwatch, the harlequin ladybird continues to push west and northwards.

They have been spreading rapidly from the East of England into Wales, and only a few days ago harlequins were seen for the first time in Glasgow!

Despite all this, the seven spot native ladybirds did have rather a better year than the past two years, although the poor little two spot ladybird has struggled this year. There is still no hard scientific evidence as to how the harlequin is directly affecting the native species, but there seem to be no edges to the harlequin's distribution as yet, and this will be a cause for concern.

The Harlequin Ladybird Survey will monitor its spread across Britain and assess its impact on native ladybirds. Monitoring ladybirds across the country has never been more important. We want YOU to get involved.

Foxes: foraging in the open around dusk and dawn in towns and cities.

Brown hares: starting their mating rituals between now and April with unreceptive females boxing off the amorous advances of males.

Flocks of birds: Starlings roost in reedbeds, on bridges and in buildings; lapwings and golden plovers flocking on farmland.

February
Winter reigns but the first hopeful signs of spring begin to show in the plant world.

Early flowers: snowdrops poke their way through lifeless woodland floors the country over, yellow coltsfoot flowers appearing on disturbed ground before their leaves.

Herons: sticking their neck out for bizarre and wonderful courtship displays on huge stick nests in woodlands.

Rooks: Form large, raucous tree-top colonies for early breeding.

Take a walk in the woods:
Winter is one of the best times to go walking in the wood. Without leaves on the trees you are more likely to spot all sorts of wild creatures.

Mistle thrushes defending holly berries, saving them for later in the winter. Look out for the holly bush that is still red in January.

Squirrels: the mating season begins in winter for our squirrels so keep an eye out for them chasing each other through the high branches.

Buzzards: in December, this now very widespread large bird of prey spends most of its time on the ground in fields at this time of the year 'hunting' for earthworms. Earthworms form the biggest part of a buzzard's diet during the winter months, surprising for such a big bird of prey.

Crossbills: In January/February they can be seen breeding in the snow. Young birds will be being fed in the February frosts and snow from the New forest in the south to the Caledonian forests of the north. In very cold weather crossbills will come to gardens in search of water. On their diet of pine cone seeds they get very thirsty.

Stay local in your park or garden:
With it being so cold outside, sometimes it's much more comfortable to watch wildlife from the kitchen window.

Woodpigeons: love them or hate them, huge numbers of woodpigeons will be on the move within December. Individual flocks can number in the tens of thousands. The movement is generally from the north to the south-west and is most obvious on clear cold days with light winds. We aren't really sure where these birds come from or where they are going to but it would seem likely that they are moving from northern Europe and are making their way to France and possibly southern Europe. When this migration is underway it is a very impressive sight and one that a lot of people overlook.

Blackcaps: their migration has some surprise stories to tell. Bblackcaps from Germany are already eating fat-balls in people's gardens - especially in the warmer west

Garden birds: In January, birds will begin moving into gardens as nature's larder begins to run out. Finches from Northern Europe, brambling, chaffinch, siskin will join the local blue and great tits at the feeders. The winter thrushes, redwing and fieldfare, can also come in search of ornamental shrubs that still hold berries, and windfall apples. (Read about Martin Hughes Games' love affair with feeding his garden birds.)

Wren by Barry Hunter

Wrens: roosting in nest boxes. Other birds also do this.

Switch on nest cams to watch roosting blue and great tits. There might be some surprises... small mammals and overwintering butterflies!

Take a trip to the coast:
There are plenty of winter coastal spectacles to be seen, and rockpooling in winter can be just as fun as in summer.

East coast: flocks of snow buntings can be seen on the east coast, particularly in Norfolk, throughout the winter. This is when these beautiful birds, when a flock takes to the air the white patches on the wings really do give the impression of a snow blizzard, are most accessible. During the summer months they will be back on the high mountain tops of northern Europe.

West coast: during the mid-winter ravens will begin to think about breeding and begin their dramatic and breathtaking display, throwing themselves around the sky, barrel-rolling and constantly uttering a deep croaking 'cronk'.

South coast: at the northern edge of their breeding range, Dartford warblers can be at their easiest to see during the winter months as they actively search for the invertebrate food that will see them through this tough time, often partaking in a bout of singing, probably to loosely maintain a winter territory and hold an area with a good food supply.

North coast: during the winter our northern shores hold huge numbers of sea duck. Thousands of eider, long-tailed duck, common and velvet scoters are joined by smaller numbers of goldeneye and red-breasted mergansers and form huge rafts on the water that provide a real birdwatching spectacle.

Visit a nature reserve:
Winter can be one of the best times to visit a nature reserve, for example it's a great time to see huge flocks of migrating geese and wildfowl, and a starling's display is not to be missed. Visit BBC Breathing Places to find one near you.

Here are the answers to the colour scheme quiz...

Top guessers in order:
Tom
Steve Baxter
Billy Clapham

And the bonus questions... no one got! (Although EatYerGreens was close.)

Thanks for playing!