Despite the long, dark nights and the short, often bitterly cold days, winter can be a great time to go birding and especially here in Oxfordshire.

We have an excellent mix of woodland, field and water sites which is exactly what our star winter birds are looking for. This makes it easier for you to head to an area that will give the best results in those limited daylight hours.

Fieldfare and redwing will be the most obvious of our visitors and a good set of hawthorn hedges should provide them with an abundance of food and you with excellent views of these beautifully marked thrushes. They also like farmland so do check out the fields, you will almost certainly spot some big, mixed flocks and the obvious eye stripe and big, orange ‘armpits’ of redwings are particularly striking.

Numbers of visiting brambling are determined by the beech mast crop in Europe and, although numbers fluctuate, we are guaranteed to see some, and very often on the garden feeders so watch out! This finch is the most colourful to visit our shores and, even in winter plumage, the mix of black, orange, brown, and white is a joy to see as it mixes with the chaffinches and other seed eaters. Blenheim is a particularly good site.

The male smew is often known as the ‘white nun’ and when you see this startingly white water bird with its black mask, you will have seen a very special bird indeed.

We often see more females than males, less glamorous with chestnut and white heads and grey bodies, but still very attractive. Their presence is very dependent on the weather around the ljsselmeer in Holland and we do not see as many as we used to with winters being warmer. Regular visits to Farmoor, Dix Pit, or Cassington Pits will almost certainly bring results.

Whatever you choose, winter can be a wonderland.

Keith Clack Oxfordshire Ornithological Society