The first though albeit very brief taste of winter came as a bit of a shock to the system as temperatures plunged more than twenty degrees overnight in the icy Arctic blast.

Wildlife can withstand the cold better than we can with our somewhat pampered lifestyles for over millennia, it has evolved a range of strategies to cope.

Fish seek deep holes in rivers and lakes and become less active but for many creatures hibernation is the key to survival.

Insects such as butterflies and moths spend the winter either as adults or in the egg, larval or pupal stages.

As their name implies, dormice sleep for many months. Red squirrels may spend time in their dreys if conditions become really cold but grey squirrels rarely do so.

Hedgehogs hibernate while badgers sometimes remain underground in snow as their main diet of earthworms is difficult to locate.

No birds hibernate but hard winters can take a heavy toll on our smallest species such as goldcrests and wrens because tiny bodies lose heat more rapidly than in larger species.

In the very severe winter way back in 1963 wrens suffered a massive setback and took several years to recover.

Nest boxes are often used by wrens in freezing weather and on occasions, up to a dozen have been found huddled together inside.

Waterfowl herons and kingfishers (pictured) suffer when water bodies ice over for long periods as they cannot access food. Kingfishers may even fly to the coast and fish in saltwater rock pools on beaches.