Snow and birds

Now that the bitter wind has dropped it's quite pleasant to go for a walk even though the snows still falling. It must be very confusing and stressful for the birds though, who are still visiting the feeders in large numbers but at the same time becoming more territorial and less tolerant. We have about a dozen chaffinches, four robins, eight blackbirds and numerous coal, blue and great tits and the occasional nuthatch visiting. We are also still getting a flock of about a dozen Long Tailed tits. In the fields there are often about twenty to thirty Lapwings feeding alongside pairs of Curlews and hares. Yesterday we were inundated with a flock of about 600-800 starlings who took off and swooped and dived above us as we drove past. The hedgehog that was hibernating has woken up with a cold and is in a pile of straw under the stairs sneezing and eating lots of cat food. It must have heard the old saying starve a fever feed a cold. This weather must really be catching a lot of wildlife out if they come out of hibernation and they can't find any food.