Wildlife gardening jobs for January

Rather than hibernate over winter, birds remain active and will continue to visit gardens in search of food.

More wildlife gardening content:

• How to make a wildlife garden
• How to make dead wood habitats
• Six essential features of a wildlife garden

Help your garden wildlife survive the winter, with the help of our jobs checklist for January.

Keen to spot which other animals are visiting your garden? Why not check out our roundup of the best wildlife cameras.

Keep bird feeders topped up

Keep bird feeders and bird tables full of calorie-rich food such as peanuts, sunflower hearts and suet products. Put seed mix, chopped apples and grated cheese on ground-feeding stations for ground feeders like robins, thrushes and blackbirds.

• How to make fat cakes for birds
• Buy fat cakes and fat cake feeders
• Buy mealworms
• Buy nut mixes
• Buy sunflower heart and seed mixes
• Buy bird feeders

Check bird boxes

Check bird boxes to make sure they're still safely fixed to the fence or wall and haven't rotted. Remove any nesting material from previous years. Replace old or damaged boxes with new ones. You can also get a closer look inside the bird boxes in your garden with a bird box camera - we've also put together a helpful guide on how to install a bird box camera.

• How to build a bird box
• Buy bird boxes from RSPB, Garden Bird and CJ Wildlife

Recycle your Christmas tree

Recycle your Christmas tree by removing branches and bundling them together to make wildlife habitats to tuck at the back of the border. You can also chop up the trunk and add the pieces to your log pile.

Look out for bees when digging

If you accidentally unearth a queen bee while digging, don't rebury her. Gently put her somewhere cold and dry where she can continue hibernating and offer her a sugar solution of equal parts sugar and water in a bottle top or something similar. This will boost her energy to provide a new hibernation site and she may even establish an early nest.