'Don't talk with your mouth full.' And it's a lesson this fieldfare might want to take note of if he doesn't want to lose his rather juicy-looking berry!

Fieldfares are winter visitors to the UK and a very common sight in gardens at the moment - whether you're digging yourself out of snow, or had glorious sunshine over the weekend.

You can find all sorts of wonderful winter wildlife and landscape photography on RSPB Images - our very own image library.

... not by knitting them little woolly hats and scarves, but by giving them some food and water.

The weather forecast is looking chilly for the weekend for much of the UK (as I write this it's minus 4 Celsius in sunny Sandy - pretty tough for us soft southerners). So it's even more important than ever to keep your bird feeders topped up and water available.

Even in the depths of winter, birds like to bathe daily. Personally, I can't think of anything much worse than an alfresco bath at the moment, but birds need water not only to drink but also to keep their feathers in good condition. It's difficult to stop water from freezing in these temperatures, but we have a few tips and tricks which might help.

As for food, it depends on which birds are visiting you. When it's cold outside and the days are short - and there's less time to feed - fat is the name of the game. There are a few things to be careful of, but don't worry - we've got everything you need to know about what to feed the birds. Things like apples and oats are also good sources of energy which birds need to keep warm.

Once you've done your duty and retreated back indoors, feel the warm glow of satisfaction as hungry birds descend. Cold weather often brings unusual visitors to gardens, so please let us know what turns up!

Would you dangle upside down to get a meal? It's all part of everyday life for a nuthatch - one of my favourite birds to watch. They're not afraid to hang upside down or run headfirst down tree trunks while looking for food. But then they have long, curved claws to help them hang on to the bark.

I wonder how many people saw nuthatches at the weekend as part of Big Garden Birdwatch? Send us your results and we'll be able to find out!

Visit RSPB Images to browse thousands of gorgeous photos like this one, taken by Steve Round.

Well, it’s finally here. The big weekend. You’ve done the preparation, you can only sit back and watch.

Which is exactly what we want you to do! For just one hour on either Saturday or Sunday please sit down, take a look out of the window and count the birds in your garden. Oh, and then submit your results, even if you don’t see anything. We still need to know.

For more information on how to take part see the Big Garden Birdwatch website. It’s so simple!

All welcome

I’ll be taking part too, I wouldn’t dream of missing it! I’ve been doing the Birdwatch since I was fresh-faced youngster staring hopefully out of the patio doors, watching entranced as blue, great and coal tits flew to and fro on their own little missions.

Back then it was only for YOC (now Wildlife Explorers) members. I’m glad that in 2001 the powers that be allowed adults to take part too! Last year 609,177 people took part. Where you one of them?

Tactics

They’re pretty simple, my tactics. But it’s my last Big Garden Birdwatch in this house, so I’d like it to be a good one.

I don’t have a garden, there’s a few plants to attract insects, ivy on the walls where blackbirds nest in spring and a tree across the courtyard. Hung there is a feeder. Or, as it’s known in my house, the ‘finch swing’, on account of the number of finches regularly seen on it! Green-, gold- and chaffinches are all regulars. The goldies appeared just after my Birdwatch hour last year, so I hope they’ll turn up during it this year.

Woodpigeons, collared doves, blackbirds and dunnocks skulk around underneath the feeder, hoovering up any seeds the messy-eating finches drop. I know it’s not a competition, but two years ago I scored a record 12 species. Star bird that year was a blackcap. More of these migrant warblers are spending their winters in the UK and with this year’s mild winter, perhaps we’ll see a few more this year.

Tradition

So, I’ll be watching early(ish) on Saturday morning, with my trusty Birdwatch bacon sarnie. It’s all part of the tradition, it just wouldn’t be the same without my bacon sarnie! I’ll let you know what I see.

What are you hoping to see? Do you have any Birdwatch traditions? Let me know and share in the fun of the world’s largest wildlife survey.

I'm not going to lie - the Birdwatch can be a worrying time.

What biscuits will I have with my cup of tea? Can I sit in my favourite chair and still see the garden? Will the birds know I'm watching them and not turn up?

Ok, so I'm being silly about the first two, but every year we get people telling us that during their hour Birdwatch their usually bustling 'bird-opolis' of a garden is strangly empty.

Now some of this is just bad timing. Not many people have the luxury to be able to stare out the window all day and see that actually there are quite a lot of periods of bird inactivity in their green space. This is perfectly normal - most birds wander over a wide area in search of food.

However, some of it might be due to slightly less obvious reasons.

Just as the cold weather of previous surveys brought a surge of birds flocking into gardens, so the incredibly mild weather of late could have the opposite affect. With the countryside not covered by frost and snow there have been plenty of berries and insects still available for our birds to eat.

It'll certainly be interesting to see what kinds of birds people are seeing this weekend, and in what numbers.

Which is why no matter if you saw 20+ or no birds at all, we still really want your results.

Happy Birdwatch everyone. And in case you're wondering, I'm rather partial to custard creams. Although ginger biscuits are always tasty. No, hang on, make that bourbons....