AT THIS time of year we can be misled into believing that all aspects of the countryside go to sleep. Certainly some do – flowers and trees take a rest and either cast their leaves or cease to flower; some of our wild creatures will seek places to hibernate or alternatively set off to travel immense distances to be certain of finding food and shelter in warmer places. This can lead us into thinking that our countryside is temporarily deserted.

This is far from true. Many of our wild creatures remain here in spite of the weather and seem able to cope with whatever nature throws at them. Some of our resident insects and mammals, the hedgehog in particular, seek cosy places to hibernate throughout the winter whilst water-living mammals like frogs, toads and newts will find suitable spots to spend their winter without being disturbed. Bats and dormice will look for warm dry places to sleep and even moles might decide to tunnel deeper into the earth to avoid the frost.

The most amazing feats of travel and endurance belong to the birds. This country is blessed with many incoming varieties during summer, but they leave us in autumn to return to their winter habitats. There is not enough space here to detail the travels of all species but one of the finest examples is the swallow, so familiar to those who live in the countryside.

It is not often you’ll see a swallow in a large town.

Adult birds arrive in spring, usually in late March or early April, when they can be immediately recognised by their small size, blue and white colours with red chins and deeply forked tails.

House martins, sand martins and swifts will also be around during the summer, consequently there can be mistakes in identifying them.

Then when autumn comes, all those species will return to Africa from whence they came. In some cases, this may involve a journey of around 5,000 miles – and the youngsters will have learnt to fly only days before departure. How do they navigate such distances? How do they acquire the necessary stamina for such long trips and how do the new ones know when they’ve arrived?

Such are nature’s mysteries.

However, here in the UK when all those summer birds have left us, we are blessed with hosts of newcomers.

Many inland waterways will come alive with winter visitors such as varieties of geese and other water fowl and there will be huge numbers, running into hundreds of thousands of each species. Around the country are dozens of bird sanctuaries, many run by the RSPB, and they will accommodate these arrivals whilst allowing the public to visit the sites to observe this amazing spectacle.

Our eastern coastline is also a good place to view flights of incoming migrants and there are some well-known viewing points where rare species can be seen amongst the more plentiful visitors. If you decide to visit one of these bird sanctuaries you’ll need a good bird-reference book and a pair of binoculars, plus clothing suitable for both the location and the weather.

However, there are some winter visitors that are not water fowl and we might see these in our towns as well as the countryside, particularly in places where berries flourish. This can include parklands as well as woodlands and in some areas, the birds become very accustomed to human visitors and will not fly off at your approach.

One example is charming and colourful waxwings.

They arrive in flocks, some years comprising huge numbers and at other times smaller gatherings.

They come from their Arctic and sub-Arctic breeding grounds and it is believed they head to this country for food. When large quantities arrive, it is known as a Waxwing Winter and they can be seen here where there are plentiful berries on trees and shrubs such as the rowan, ivy, holly, hawthorn, juniper and Guelder rose. Quite often, our attention will be drawn to them by their large numbers and they may issue a light trilling song, reserving their famous chattering sound for the breeding season back home.

Waxwings are very colourful.

Slightly larger than a robin but smaller than a blackbird, they have warm brown plumage, darker above the lighter area under the belly. One easy method of identification is the prominent crest which protrudes from the back of the head, but in addition they have black throats and black and white markings on the wings with red waxlike tips on the upper feathers.

There is also a black strip across the tail and a yellow tip to the tail. You could hardly mistake them for anything else.

Also joining us for the winter will be two thrush-like birds from Scandinavia who also come to raid our berry trees. Both are instantly recognisable due to their thrush-like spotted breasts, but the fieldfare (the larger of the two) has a grey head and grey rump with a black tail. The redwing also has the thrush-like speckled breast but it displays warm red flashings under its wings. When these visitors arrive they will often mingle with our native thrushes and blackbirds, and both incoming species may remain here until late spring when they can breed.

There may also be some rare visitors who have been blown off course by gales but even in our gardens and parks where feeders are provided, we can be surprised by unexpected visitors.

On one occasion, recorded here on April 2, 2004, I spotted a goshawk in our garden with no other birds nearby.

Apropos our garden, one of the most colourful trees this year has been the rowan, otherwise known as mountain ash. Ours is a “Joseph Rock” young tree we bought from a garden centre a few years ago, and it is now making its presence felt by its wonderful red-coloured foliage and bunches of yellow berries.

Most rowans produce red berries but I reckon our birds will enjoy ours whatever the colour. Very soon, of course, it will lose those leaves but it will easily cope with the winter chills.

The rowan is a tough tree.

In spite of its tender and graceful appearance, it grows higher up our mountain sides than any other native species. It can cope with rocks and crevices, sometimes sprouting from a deep fissure where a bird has dropped a seed. Despite its ability to grow in such wild and sparse conditions, it is used as a decorative species in parks and gardens.

Its greyish-white wood also has its uses. It was used to make handles for a variety of household tools, and was also favoured by sculptors who liked to carve it. It is a pliable wood that was sometimes substituted for the yew when making longbows and in the not-too-far distant past, a piece of rowan wood was thought to keep witches and other evils at bay. In Yorkshire, it was said that: “If your whipstock is made of rowan, you can travel safely through any town.”