Snow may still be falling in January but blue tits are getting ready for the breeding season. During the short daylight hours they will frequently visit gardens searching for food and seeking out possible nesting sites for spring. In winter, good food supplies are very important. Females need to keep their body weight up to be in good breeding condition in the spring. Males need to keep their plumage in good condition to attract females.

January is a good time to watch grey squirrels build and look after their winter homes called ‘dreys’. Grey squirrels do not hiberate but instead they use their dreys to shelter from the winter weather. Squirrel dreys are usually found close to the trunk of the tree and are large balls of interwoven leaves and twigs. During January there are less leaves on the trees which makes dreys easy to spot in the treetops.

There are around 1500 different species of lichen in Britain and because trees are still bare during January, it is a good time to see if you can spot some of them. Lichens are remarkable organisms. They are a fungus and an alga living together in a symbiotic association (help each other). The alga releases sugars, which allow the fungus to grow and reproduce. The fungus provides protection for the alga so it can live in environments it could not survive in without the fungal partner.

One of the best places to look for signs of life during the cold month of January is in your local pond because water retains heat much better than air. Two species to look out for while pond dipping are damselfly and mayfly nymphs. Damselfly nymphs have a long slender body and three "tails", which are flattened leaf-like gills. Mayfly nymphs also have three tails and gills along the sides of their body.

Look out for large flocks of starlings during winter. Flocks are small during the breeding season and large in winter when migrants from the north join the resident birds. The swirling aerial display of a large flock of starlings is a spectacular sight. They form large flocks because with lots of eyes each bird in the flock can spend less time looking out for predators and more time feeding.

Small tortoiseshell butterflies often hibernate in houses and sheds during the winter months. They sometimes wake from hibernation on sunny winter days and can be seen fluttering against windowpanes. Their mottled brown undersides make them hard to spot until they open their wings, which are bright orange and black with a row of blue crescents around the wing edges. Check your garden shed for hibernating tortoiseshells.

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