• Come Dine with Me: put out bowls of suet, peanuts, seeds, apples and dried fruit and a shallow dish or container of water at ground level to help birds and small mammals. Bread is not the best thing to put out, but it is better than nothing.

• Ice Ice Baby: melt a hole in the ice on ponds with a pan of hot water on in.  This will allow the wildlife to drink, and enter and exit the water. Do not hit or crack ice as this can send harmful shockwaves through the water.

• Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow: let grass grow long as it provides shelter for insects, frogs and mice. For anybody not wanting to leave the entire lawn long, the wildlife charity advises adjusting the mower to cut the grass to at least 3.5 - 5cm or leaving a patch to grow.

• Box clever: if budgets permit, install a bird box to give a birds a place to rest (roost) over the winter.

• Leaf your leaves alone: don’t sweep away leaves as discarded leaves are used by animals to line their nests or burrows.  If a pile is left in the corner of a garden, something is bound to move in.

• Heap, heap hooray: be careful when turning compost heaps. As they are often warm, they can be the winter resort of frogs, toads and other animals.

• Blooming marvellous: leave flowers in the garden until early spring as they provide homes for overwintering insects and are a great source of nectar for birds.  Garden ivy offers a safe warm hideaway for queen wasps, butterflies and small mammals with the berries ripening throughout winter and providing food for birds.

• Be berrytastic: don’t cut back hedges when they are producing berries. All kinds of berries are a valuable food source for birds and mammals, when there is nothing else around for them to eat.

Geoff Dobbins, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Estates Manager says:

“Gardens, flower beds and balconies are a vital source of shelter and food for wildlife in winter when many species need warm, dry spaces to bed down in.

“When you are out in your garden, please bear in mind how holding back on some projects until spring can really make a difference and, you never know, you may be rewarded with visits from some wonderful species.

“Even the corners of a dusty shed may have butterflies overwintering in them, so put your duster down and put your feet up until next spring.”