Fill a bird bath and save lives

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is urging gardeners to keep bird baths filled up during the cold snap - it literally could mean the difference between life and death.

With natural water sources being frozen over, and as the UK records its coldest winter weather in a three decades, the RSPB says that birds need to drink at least twice a day but they also need water to preen their feathers.

If a bird is in good condition it can find food and evade predators.

You may find it a chore filling the bird bath every day but a ping pong ball or tennis ball floating in the water will help keep the surface ice free.

Remember to provide a means of exit for the birds and try not to make the same mistake as I did.