January is a prime month in the UK for wintering wildfowl. It's also a great time to see species such as mountain hare and ptarmigan in their winter colours. Barn owls and short-eared owls may be seen hunting in daylight, while gamebirds forage even in the deepest snow, and in the Scottish Highlands capercaillies are displaying. Meanwhile mammals - apart from the few species that hibernate - are still very active. Garden birds are in need of extra sustenance and birdfeeders and birdtables may attract more unusual visitors. Starling roosts in towns and reedbeds build up into large numbers, while robins and thrushes are starting to sing and rooks are returning to their nest colonies. In milder areas frogs will be returning to their breeding ponds, while early moths may be on the wing, and mosses and lichens are very evident before flowering plants and deciduous trees spring to life. Frost and snow on fields, woods and hedgerows completes a magical picture.

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