Cold winter weather confuses birds, says Sheffield wildlife expert

Furthermore, with increasing use of ‘daylight’ street-lamps, some birds get very confused.

Bird behavioural and breeding cycles are determined especially by the relative lengths of daytime and night-time which influence they hormonal levels.

So, add mild weather to what they experience as a longer day and some of the birds think it is time to set up territory and start breeding all over again.

Listen out across the area and you will hear robins and blackbirds, particularly, in good voice during late afternoon and into the evening.

This will be okay, unless we get a very cold snap which will see off any potential early broods.

Again, linked to mild weather across Europe we have seen relatively few visiting flocks of the winter thrushes, such as redwing and fieldfare.

However, I did notice recently a build-up of blackbirds in the farmland hedgerows of Moss Valley.

Groups of blackbird were gathering for a winter roost.

Gorging on berries of holly and hawthorn, they were chattering noisily.

Nearby, the resident blackbirds were already delivering their loud territorial song.

The flocks are most likely made up of visiting European birds and are maybe the first big wave of the winter visitors.

Close-by, in our local woods, the tawny owls have been very noisy in recent weeks. They have taken to sitting on our roof and calling loudly.

These are some of our earliest birds to set-up territory and to start breeding.

They are also very strongly defensive of their territories and can react aggressively to any threats to their nesting sites.

This is one of two periods of intense activity in the tawny owl year.

The other one is in the late summer when young birds have fledged and both parents and youngsters are active in and around the breeding territory.

By wintertime, however, the young are pushed out to fend for themselves.