Garden Birds in Snow

Early this morning the garden was covered in a thin veil of snow.  The forecast is for more heavy snow, and this will mean cold and bleak weather to come.

Yesterday evening we topped up all of the bird feeders and by the time we were active this morning, the small birds were feeding in the wind and snow.  They need all of the food they can find at this time of year in order to survive the cold nights.  For some species, anything will do.

With the ground frozen, the ground feeders are having a hard time.  Blackbirds, thrushes and dunnocks have to be quick to feed before the snow covers the food.  Then they are then left picking the droppings from the hanging feeders to get anything.
What they could to with is a feeding station with a shelter, to keep off the snow.  That may be a future project, but for now we are clearing patches to place food on the ground.