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Whether you are deep in a forest or out in the open – in really severe winter weather the difference isn’t very big. True, the frost bites a little less severely in a dense spruce stand and the snow from the blizzard doesn’t get in among the trees. But those who were outside proper shelters in the recent snowstorm learnt that it wasn’t easy anywhere. Sadly far from all birds survived this whirling tempest. Many winter birds still stay alive, but there is little daylight time, the snow blanket wallows on the landscape, and prying food from trees and bushes takes much effort even for the industrious tits and uses up much energy, and many little birds leave this world. They simply haven’t enough strength left.

The partridges’ foragings have become more difficult. On top of the problem of finding food there is the additional risk of falling into the eternal sleep in the night shelters. The thick, airy and warm snow blanket that was so beloved by grouse and partridges in the beginning of the winter becomes a deathly trap for many wild hen family birds because of the ice crust that forms after the thaw. But a dense blizzard can also be fateful for birds that are weak from hunger: at first they wait for better weather, then it may already be too late.