LIKE so many other people, I have established bird feeding stations in our garden and these will be maintained over the winter months with nuts and seeds, along with fresh water in the bird bath.

Because I had a good supply of nuts and seeds left over from last year (I do not feed the birds during the spring and summer months), I stored these in plastic boxes and placed them on a high shelf in the garage.

When I retrieved them this year, however, I discovered a mouse had gnawed a hole through one box to leave merely a pile of husks. In the case of the second box, he had nibbled away the entire edge of the lid so that it fell on to the contents, but because this continued to prevent him reaching the seeds, he had then chewed a hole through the remains of the lid. I discovered this before he'd devoured the lot!

Deciding to place my new supplies out of his reach, I put my fresh seeds in a large plastic biscuit box and rested it in the wire bowl of a disused hanging basket which was suspended from a beam in the garage.

Yesterday I decided to replenish one of our bird feeders and, because it was pouring with rain, took it into our utility room along with the box of seeds.

And when I opened the box, there was a very well-fed and handsome looking mouse inside. How he got in remains a mystery, but in a flash he leapt out and vanished behind the washing machine.

To tempt him to leave, I left the utility room door open all day, with the box of seeds on the step outside. There are many places in which he can hide in our utility room and, rather than trap him, I hope he will be tempted by the waiting goodies and so leave the cosiness of the house.

My ploy might have worked because this morning there was no sign of his presence in that room. I have placed the tin of seeds outside once more, with the lid slightly open, just in case....so I am now feeding all our garden birds and, rightly or wrongly, at least one plump and very contented mouse.

Within minutes of placing the full bird feeders in the garden, they attracted blue tits and siskins; to date our visitors include blue tits, coal tits and great tits, greenfinches, chaffinches, siskins and one goldfinch; house sparrows, hedge sparrows and one robin.

I also spotted a wren nearby, as well as a pair of male blackbirds but, to date, no starlings have appeared, although a wood pigeon did settle on our garden wall a few minutes ago.

This reminds me that it is once again time for the annual RSPB garden bird survey. Last year, 262,000 people took part and there are hopes that this year the number will increase to provide an even better result.

The procedure is very simple - during next weekend, January 25 and 26, you spend just one hour counting the birds in your garden or local park and you record the highest number of each bird species seen at any one time.

Mornings are considered best when the birds are out and about, feeding after a cold winter night.

You will need a special form to complete and this can be obtained by ringing 0870 6010215 (with calls charged at the national rate), but you must ring before Monday.

This survey is very important in establishing the current state of the wild garden bird population in this country.

It has been conducted each year since 1979 and was one of the first indications of the decline of song thrush numbers in our gardens.

Last year, it showed that the average number of starlings seen in our gardens was merely four, compared to 15 in 1979.

So what will this year's survey reveal? David Hirst, of the North of England office of the RSPB at Newcastle, told me: "We were amazed how many people took part in 2002 despite the bad weather.

"I hope that even more people in the North of England will take part this year, and so enable the RSPB to collect valuable information about our garden birds."

The result of last year's survey, across the nation, produced the following top ten birds in descending order, surprisingly with the starling in the lead despite its decline.

The full list is as follows: starling, house sparrow, blue tit, blackbird, chaffinch, greenfinch, collared dove, great tit, wood pigeon, robin. It will be interesting see what changes there are, if any, to this year's top ten.

In my own garden, in addition to the above, we've had magpies, long tailed tits, a carrion crow, a sparrow hawk, a kite flying overhead and lots of summer visitors such as spotted flycatchers, swallows, housemartins and swifts.

But for this major survey, the coming weekend is vital. If you require more information, or even last year's county-by-county results, you can contact David Hirst on 0191 2126121 - but, to repeat myself, for a survey pack and form, you should ring 0870 6010215 before Monday.

Continuing the bird theme, there was a time when our north-east coastline and several miles inland, probably as far south as East Yorkshire, was the regular haunt of the hooded crow.

Despite that, I cannot ever recall seeing one on the North York Moors, although I have noticed them elsewhere. But this bird was disliked by the people of the moors because it raided grouse nests.

Although the bird is present all year, it was once thought to be a winter visitor from Scandinavia, sometimes being seen as far south as Hertfordshire.

The belief that it was an overseas winter visitor to our region probably occurred because of its extensive internal migration, although in some northern and western areas it appears to have permanently taken the place of the carrion crow.

The distinction between the hooded crow and the carrion crow is highly visible - the hoodie, as it is often called, has a very distinctive grey back and underparts.

In all other respects it is identical in shape and size to the carrion crow, but where both birds' territories overlap, such as Scotland, they will interbreed to produce offspring with grey markings.

The hooded crow has lots of different names. Hoodie is perhaps the most common, but it is quite widely known as the grey crow or even the Royston crow, the latter being due to sightings at Royston in Hertfordshire.

More locally, it was called the blue-backed crow, the Norway crow, the woodcock crow, the grey-backed crow and even the Coatham.

It seems the name Coatham was used in the area around Loftus and Staithes, but I am not sure whether this has any association with that district of Redcar.

In the dialect of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the bird was known as a dowp or dowpy and, because it was feared by superstitious local people, there was a curious long verse which was designed to keep the bird away.

The verse included a form of incantation along with a recipe for what must surely be a form of witchcraft designed to ward off the bird's intentions.

The verse is too long to reproduce here, but it begins with: 'Hooded crows frev ower t'sea, Ah pray o' ye ti gracious be; Sthrang o' wing, an' far o' fleeght, Ah beg a favour fra yer might.'

The verse speaks of the blood of hawks, owls and foxes, silver spoons and crossed hands, the heart of a weasel and the lights of a wild cat, nine white grubs and the eyes of a dead lamb.

The final lines are: 'Sike tasty food ez ne'er war seen, Ah beg ya sup at bre'k o' day, an' deea mah bidding, this Ah pray.'

All designed to keep away the dreaded dowpy or hooded crow!

And finally, a reader from Great Ayton has written about my note on barn owls. He tells me that, although farmers welcomed these birds as guests in their barns, they were not so welcome in parish churches.

Indeed, churchwardens' accounts from around the country in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with particular reference to St Mary's in Beverley, show that payments at the high rate of sixpence per head were made for the killing of owls in churches.

An article about this was published in the Oct-Dec 2002 issue of The Naturalist, which is the magazine of the Yorkshire Naturalist Union. I thank my correspondent for this contribution