1. Keep bird feeders and baths topped up: Many birds lose 10 per cent of their body weight overnight in cold weather and expend a lot of energy flying to feeders, so you need to keep your bird feeders and baths topped up so they don't have a wasted journey.
Provide them with a variety of foods, from seed and suet to fruit and dried mealworms. Avoid anything salty and lose the net strings that fat balls come in, as birds can get their feet and beaks stuck in them. Finches and tits go for sunflower seeds, while blackbirds and thrushes love fruit and berries. Blackbirds enjoy dried fruit, such as sultanas.
2. Rotten wood is good: After autumn pruning, don't dispose of all your rotten wood and bark, because these provide much needed shelter for many overwintering insects including ladybirds.
3. Feed the bees: Occasionally, bees will emerge from their winter hibernation on milder days. Treat them to a 50:50 sugar and water solution. Certain kinds of bumblebee, including the buff-tailed bumblebee, are seen in winter gardens on sunny days.
4. Keep areas untidy: Don't worry too much about sweeping up all the leaves because they can provide shelter for a range of mammals and insects. Among the best hiding areas is under hedges, which should remain dry and relatively warm. Pests including slugs and snails often hide under leaves or other garden debris, providing tasty morsels for birds, frogs and hedgehogs.
5. Look after insects: Butterflies and moths overwinter as pupae or caterpillars in long grass or at the base of plants, or even just below the soil, so keep your grass as long as you can stand and don't cut back all of your perennials, as other insects including spiders may take refuge in the hollow stems.
6. Help hedgehogs: In mild winters, hedgehogs can remain active in the garden through November and December. Give hedgehogs extra food such as meat-based wet dog or cat food, hedgehog food or cat biscuits. They will also need a shallow dish of fresh water. Don't give them milk, as they are lactose-intolerant.
