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You might have noticed increased activity at your bird table over the last two weeks, the first signs of birds returning to gardens as nature's larder gets emptied. This pattern is being repeated nationally, from the weekly returns submitted by BTO Garden BirdWatchers for species like and. With birds returning to gardens, now is a great time to practice your identification skills, and if you're really keen recognise different age and sex classes for familiar species such as .

Stocks of hedgerow berries were good this autumn, but many are now being demolished by flocks of immigrant blackbirds, fieldfares and redwings. Later in the year, as winter takes hold, many of these birds will move into gardens (particularly if we get a cold snap) and will look for ornamental trees and shrubs, such as Sorbus, Cotoneaster and Pyracantha. If you want to increase your chances of seeing these birds, why not plant some berry-producing shrubs of your own? A guide to what to plant can be found .

One bird that is clearly less evident in gardens this year is the, whose population has been hit by a disease that first appeared in the summer of 2005. The disease, known as , is caused by a single-celled parasite. Infected birds appear fluffed-up, lethargic and may show difficulty in swallowing food. Good hygiene measures at garden feeding stations are important to reduce the risk of transmission between visiting birds. Guidelines include cleaning your feeders, bird tables and bird baths on a weekly basis, and moving the feeding station around the garden to a fresh location every couple of weeks. More information on the disease is available from .

Looking back over the autumn's marvellous migration stories it has been a particularly good season for firecrests, highlighted by Chris and Kate's encounter with one at Portland Bird Observatory in programme 2. Despite their close relative the goldcrest having a terrible time of things, the rate for firecrest doubled compared to the first half of October 2008. One possible explanation for this is the firecrest's more southerly distribution; unlike its cousin, firecrests rarely breed in Scandinavia and only breed in small numbers in Britain, with most of the population spending the winter in France or further south. This may have saved continental birds from the worst of last winter's weather, so although the British breeding population appears to have suffered, there were still plenty of firecrests just across the Channel that reached us during the course of Autumnwatch.

Finally, looking forward to some treats that might be in store over the winter. Our most secretive breeding heron species, the bittern, enjoyed its best-ever breeding season in 2009 and at this time of year, continental birds will be joining our own burgeoning bittern population. Any very cold snaps provide the perfect opportunity to seek out this normally shy species, as birds are forced from the cover of dense reedbeds to hunt for eels and other fish in any remaining unfrozen water. There are lots of great places to look for bitterns in winer; Minsmere (Suffolk), Leighton Moss (Lancashire) and Blacktoft Sands (East Yorkshire) RSPB reserves come to mind but they are found in all sorts of suitable wetland habitats and there may well be a bittern lurking near you!