THIS winter, we are experiencing the real joys of living in the heart of the countryside and spend most lunchtimes sitting in the conservatory watching the birds feeding on our bird-table as we eat our sandwiches.

There are two main differences between the farm garden and the cottage in Hovingham, which affect our birds.

The first one is we do not have a cat either in residence or as a neighbour and, secondly, we have sited this bird table in amongst the lilac and laurel bushes, which gives cover and makes an easy refuge for the small birds from the sparrow hawks. Even this is not enough to deter these cruel birds; one of them has just taken a blackbird as I am writing this story. We gave the cat away and shot the squirrels but this predator is a protected bird and has a licence to kill with impunity.

Pat loves her birds and has been feeding them ever since we moved here in the spring. This has resulted in all the youngsters who have been hatched around the garden becoming very tame. The blue tits are present in good numbers with great tits and coal tits also very much in evidence. Sparrows, too, are regular feeders along with green finches and the odd dove. Just occasionally, another dove makes an appearance, but he is quickly driven away by the local resident who seems to regard this as his own territory and is willing to fight over it. We also have our resident robins who always feed separately, as one would expect, with another one hovering around the edge of the garden, no doubt hoping to be allowed to join in the feast if the weather gets much harder as winter progresses.

There are also a few blackbirds, chaffinches and wrens, which feed mainly on the ground alongside the pheasants who stroll around the garden unless one of the dogs is loose.

One of the most exciting things for us has been the arrival of a pair of nuthatches, which neither of us had seen in the garden before. They are normally woodland birds and very beautiful and always seem to feed hanging upside down. When they first came, they were very shy of humans, but have accepted us at last. Even more exciting was the arrival of our first greater-spotted woodpecker, followed a few days later by his smaller and not quite so gaudy mate. They are both very shy and still nervous of movements inside the conservatory, but both are coming more often as the weather becomes colder. This is one bird I have not been able to take a photo of up to now, but time and patience, as well as a bit of luck, might change that.

These, of course, are just the birds in the garden. Out in the fields and around the hedgerows, of course, there are lots more of the supposedly "at risk" species, in spite of our type of farming. Skylarks abound if you look in the right places and our wagtails, who spent the summer in the garden with their little ones, have gone back into the fields where they follow the tractors and machines, keeping company with us just as they used to do in the days we worked the land with horses.

Flocks of gold finches are living around the hedges, feeding on the weed seeds along side the partridges, which seem to have had a bit of a revival this year thanks to the fine summer, which helped to produce plenty of flies and midges for food. Ducks, too, are on the ponds in good numbers, with both mallard and tufted ducks having produced broods, which have survived the depredations of the mink and carrion crows. I have not had the time this year to sit and watch for the otters, but I am sure they are still around, because, like all animals, they leave their own distinctive trademark behind them. But, God willing, the plan is to build a hide at the wild pond and then sit and wait in the early spring mornings.

The swans moved on with their family early in the year, probably because we have had a lot of foxes on the farm, but they have started to call again recently without the youngsters, which probably means that the cygnets have either been killed or, hopefully, reached maturity and are now able to fend for themselves in the wider world. The geese went early in September, no doubt to join up with one of the big flocks at places like Castle Howard for the winter. Big flocks seem to bring safety of numbers, always allowing one or two to be on watch as the others are feeding.

As well as birds, we have a lot of predators, and in all my 70 years at the farm, I have never seen quite as many foxes around, especially during the daylight hours. More importantly, there seems to be two very different types of fox on the farm. The wild fox, which every countryman knows and hates because of the way they kill for fun rather than for food, is still around and just as wary of men - it is to be seen on the farm most nights. In fact, we saw two of them in separate fields this week. They are very wary and do not hang around if they see people or cars. But we have another type of fox in our district, which seems to have no fear of either cars or people. These foxes will sit and watch a car either moving or, indeed, stationary at very close distances. I am told these foxes are the "urban breed" or "dustbin foxes", which have been caught up in the cities and are being released into the countryside.

This is reminiscent of urban man who has also moved into the country in search of a better life - adjusting to country life after the bright lights of the cities must be just as difficult for Mr Fox. He, too, is in a very alien environment and if he survives, he will soon become much leaner because the pickings from dustbins and kitchen waste are not very good in the country. Sadly, whilst they are perhaps both street and traffic wise, town foxes have no fear of either cars or people and are very quickly shot either by the gamekeepers or the farming community. This makes their attempted reintroduction into the countryside seem rather pointless.

These are the changes I have noticed amongst the wildlife on the farm since we returned to live here in April. Some of the changes are good; others are of rather doubtful benefit to anyone. But we are pleased to see the birds are thriving in spite of all the adverse publicity about modern-day farming. I am not too pleased about the influx of tame foxes, but as one of the gamekeepers told me, they do make good target practice and are very easy to deal with.

Updated: 13:28 Monday, December 29, 2003