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.

• 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.

(P.S : Are you on the right blog post? If you want to tell us about what you think of this year's Autumnwatch, please post your comments here. For your views on Unsprung please post here. If you have ideas for the Autumnwatch website, please post them here.)

Get posting below. We'd love to hear from you.

(PS Are you on the right blog post? If you want to tell us about what you think of this year's Autumnwatch, please post your comments here. For your views on Unsprung please post here. If you have thoughts and ideas about Springwatch 2010, please post them here.)

Tim Scoones is Executive Producer, Autumnwatch

Finally, Autumnwatch 2009 saw the advent of Unsprung on BBC TWO, not on Red Button, and running for a full 30 minutes. Was this a good move ?

So... what did you like? What did you dislike? What would you like to see more - or less - of? Please let us know by posting a comment below. After all, it's your show.

• If you want to comment about Autumnwatch (or have ideas for next year) please post a comment at the bottom of this page
• If you have specific thoughts or ideas about Unsprung, please click here
• If you have specific thoughts or ideas for Springwatch 2010, please click here
• .... and if you have specific thoughts ideas for our website, please click here

On behalf of the whole team, I want to thank you for joining us this autumn. We've really enjoyed making the series (though many of us could do with a little lie down for a while now ...!) We all hope you've enjoyed the journey with us through the whole season, from summery orchards in late September to wintery mountains in late November.

Don't forget that, although the webcams have finished and the messageboards shut down soon, the rest of the website will be staying live with migration news on the blog, ideas for stuff to do over the winter and of course your chance to upload your best nature videos. If you ever need to get a bit of wildlife into your winter and you are looking for inspiration, think of us and this website. And if you've seen something amazing, tell us on the blog. We love hearing from you, and the videos, photos and questions you've been sending in have been truly amazing. Thank you.

Keep an eye out in the TV schedules for our 90 minute Springwatch Christmas Special sometime in the festive season. And do please help look after our wonderful wildlife until we see you again for Springwatch.

Tim Scoones is Executive Producer, Autumnwatch

It was tremendous fun to make and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

But ultimately, it was your (the audience's) show. Each week we'd start on a Monday morning with a blank piece of paper and over the next five days we'd read through your all your insightful questions and comments, watch your videos and marvel at your stunning photos to select the very best for the show. So thank you very much for sending them all in because without your contributions we literally would not have had a programme.

Now we'd love to hear your opinions about your show. What did you think of Unsprung? Which bits did you like or dislike? What would you like to see in any future Unsprungs?

Over to you.

Tim Scoones is Executive Producer, Autumnwatch

What are they trying to keep a low profile against? The Highlands of Scotland are one of the best places in the UK to spot golden eagles. The Findhorn valley, near Inverness, is known locally as 'eagle alley'. It used to see their persecution but now can be a great site to watch juvenile birds (up to four years old) gliding in the wind and possibly hunting. With a 2m wingspan, these magnificent birds are a great spectacle for anyone. Twitcher, naturalist or someone with no interest in wildlife - you have to be impressed by these stunningly graceful birds.

All of these species are predominantly seen during ever decreasing daylight hours. But one distinctive Highland resident is a nocturnal specialist that comes out to feed at dusk. The pine marten is a mustalid (like the badger, stoat, weasel and polecat) whose appearance differs thanks to a yellowy bib.

They have semi-retractable claws (like cats) and are very much at home on the forest floor or running amongst the branches. They feed on a wide selection of foods - small mammals, birds, amphibians and berries. But in the Cairngorm area they are also partial to a bit of black pudding, jam, peanut butter and bread. Probably not to everybody's taste, but the Glenmore Café's resident pine marten couldn't get enough of it.

Tim Scoones is Executive Producer, Autumnwatch

And you can enjoy these any time you want by downloading these mps files (right click on the links and select 'save target as'):

1. Pheasants to roost
2. Birds arrive at roost
3. Roost starts to settle
4. Quiet roost

The rook and jackdaw roost Simon visited in Norfolk is by no means the only place you can witness this winter spectacle. From now until late February, when the birds' breeding season begins, possibly every rook and jackdaw in the land will be gathering at dusk and spending the night in an area of woodland, somewhere near you. It's a quintessential winter experience.

To find your local roost may require some patience, perseverance - and a bit of luck. As dusk draws near (from around 3pm onwards at this time of year) keep an eye out for rooks and jackdaws heading purposefully across the sky. Find a vantage point if you can, some high ground where you can observe the passage of a number of birds.

If possible, take a compass bearing, and then follow the birds towards their night-time roosting site. You may need to repeat this process a few times, from a number of different locations in your area. Be warned that rooks and jackdaws can travel up to 20 miles at speeds around 30 miles an hour to roosting sites, so your local roost may take some finding. But it does exist!

Though there may not be the numbers of birds that Simon saw, the aerobatic displays at both dawn and dusk are wonderful sights of the winter season, and well worth seeking out.

Our friends at the BTO have kindly given us this list of likely locations:

• Simon was at the largest roost in the UK at Buckenham Carrs in Norfolk. Possibly as many as 80,000 birds, although this is far from certain.
• Other large roosts can be found at Hatton Castle in Aberdeenshire, tens of thousands. Aberdeenshire as a whole is one of the best places in the UK for rook roosts with several being found around the county.
• Northward Hill, Kent, on the Hoo, is another large roost with 5-10,000 birds
• Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, has a roost of around 5,000 birds
• Beyond this, there are smaller roosts around the country that are still impressive to see. The roost of around 3,000 birds at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk is a joy to see. There will be many more like this around the country.

And, of course, if you discover other good places please share them below.

• Marine Conservation Zones
• Reforms to inshore fisheries management, including local bans
• A right of public access to the entire coastline

Read BBC News coverage of the Act's detail and views of supporters and opponents.

It will be months or years before some of the changes take effect. Campaigners for wildlife and clean seas are already working to conserve the coastal environment and there's plenty you can do to help. And if you do help, please tell us by posting a comment below.

Your seas, your voice
The Marine Conservation Society are asking people to vote for the specific areas they want to protect. Together with their recommended 75 sites, they will use your votes to "ensure that the important and special places along our coast are properly protected." Find out more and vote on their website.

Water quality, litter
Waste water from domestic sources seldom goes into rivers or seas untreated so don't worry about the type of detergents you use (in terms of them causing water pollution). But it is always sensible to check what's the best thing to do with any chemicals you're trying to dispose of.

Rainwater drains may well flow directly into water courses taking pollution and litter with them. Do your bit to keep plastics and other junk out of the sea, where it's not just a mess but a hazard to marine life.

There are some alarming statistics which show how much harm plastic does in our seas:

• There is six pounds of plastic for every pound of algae
• A recent study in the North Sea found that fulmars, a type of seabird, had an average of 30 pieces of plastic in their stomachs
• About 80% of the plastic in the oceans is blown or washed off the land, or intentionally dumped

To get more involved, you can keep an eye on our beaches and make sure they are kept clean. The MCS's Adopt-a-Beach and Beachwatch initiatives are brilliant for this.

You can either join as a Beachwatch organiser, adopt a beach and then organise a team of volunteers to clean and survey your beach from time to time, or just as a volunteer at a beach that's already been adopted.

You can find a list of all Beachwatch beaches and organisers and more about the initiatives on the Adopt-A-Beach website.

Train to rescue sea mammals
If you're keen to get even more involved then the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) are the people to talk to. They rescue seals and stranded cetaceans in the UK and will train people to become marine mammal medics.

They were the team that led the rescue operation of the famous northern bottle-nosed whale stranded in the Thames in 2006.

Tim Scoones is the Executive Producer of Autumnwatch

This Autumnwatch, one of Simon's goals was to link Britain to the places our birds migrate to and from. He began by heading up to the Arctic to find and film barnacle geese before they set off for our shores. Last week, he completed the other half of the migration story by heading south, following Scottish ospreys on their 3,000 mile migration to west Africa.

Whether in Scotland or Senegal, ospreys start the day by hunting for fish, and you've got to get up early to catch them at it... 4.30 am, to be precise. But the lack of sleep was more than compensated for by the spectacle of tens of mature ospreys expertly hunting against a moody African sky.

Here's a few photos from the trip...

Tim Scoones is Executive Producer of Autumnwatch

It's good timing for a show beside the sea. The Marine & Coastal Access Act came into force around England and Wales yesterday. (I've also blogged about how you can do can help our sealife.)

Covering 240 square miles, Pembrokeshire is home to Britain's only truly coastal national park and is surrounded by some of the finest coastline in Europe. Seabird breeding sites, numerous bays and sandy beaches meant our wildlife camera operators and presenters had a rich variety of wildlife to film.

You might think summer is the best time to visit Britain's beaches but it's during autumn and winter that storms and turbulent seas wash up wildlife gems along the strandline.

The strandline lacks any true nature conservation status and yet a wealth of invertebrate species are partially or entirely reliant on this coastal environment. These invertebrates provide an important food resource for birds such as pipits, gulls and crows.

Beachcombing is a fascinating way to learn more about marine life off the coast near you and can provide clues to the wildlife that visits your local beach to scavenge on an all-it-can-eat buffet of whelk eggs, sponges, limpets and sea mats.

At this time of year, overwintering waders gather on estuaries and bays right across the country. As high tide recedes, you might see oystercatchers, redshank, curlew and turnstone (to name but a few) wading across the fertile mud in search of juicy morsels. Mudflats and marshes are also popular sites to spot these iconic birds.

Clifftop walks in autumn and winter can be invigorating and informative. Hardy birds, like chough, the rarest member of the crow family that breeds in Britain, can be seen along rocky coasts with short grassland seeking out insects and larvae. These fantastic birds, with their blood-red beaks and legs demonstrate their prowess in the skies with dramatic aerial displays - a real treat to behold.

There is never a poor time of year to visit beaches for a spot of rock-pooling. Set out to the pools three hours after high tide for a chance to spot a rich bounty of colourful species in the clear water. Periwinkles, sea slugs, sponges and sea squirts are all common inhabitants of these mini ecosystems. If you fancy it then BBC Breathing Places has an excellent guide to rockpooling [PDF].

Tim Scoones is the Executive Producer of Autumnwatch