Sandra Dick: Mother Nature is taking her course on plants and animals

Now, as the first snowdrops finally poke their heads through still-hard ground two weeks later than expected, it's emerged the harsh winter hasn't been all bad news.

Indeed, the deep freeze has brought the demise of billions of hibernating midges now frozen to death.

According to midge expert Dr Alison Blackwell, of Edinburgh University's Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, the coming summer may be one of the best for avoiding the pesky pests thanks to harsh weather which has penetrated beneath the ground to where the bugs sleep.

It's welcome news for anyone planning to venture into the Scottish countryside this summer, even if Dr Blackwell stresses that there will still be plenty of the little blighters to go around.

But if this winter's severe conditions, the harshest since 1962/63, can land a blow on one of the toughest insects we have – after all, midges have survived since the last Ice Age – what's it done to the rest of our wildlife?

According to Alan Anderson, conservation operations manager with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, nature has taken a knock from bitter cold, driving some desperate creatures to hunt for food in unlikely places, others to flee for warmer climes and some, sadly, to an early demise.

"They will bounce back," he stresses. "For many species, this is normal winter weather and it's us that has got used to less severe winters. There's really nothing exceptional about this for nature."

Still, he agrees, it has had an impact.

Wild red deer in particular have struggled, with too many animals competing for not enough food. Starving creatures have either succumbed while others have stripped woodlands of bark – upsetting the delicate ecological balance – or been forced into urban areas to search for whatever they can find to eat. Their plight has sparked debate over whether deer should be humanely culled to spare their suffering.

Other creatures have faced a fight for survival too, and hardest hit has been Scotland's bird population.

Tiny, frail wrens have struggled most, explains Mr Anderson, because their frames offer little protection against the elements and they have a constant need to feed on worms and insects made impossible to satisfy by the frozen ground.

While the wren struggles, other birds have ventured far beyond their normal territories in search of food, adds Mr Anderson. "I've had a pheasant feeding at my bird table in my garden in Corstorphine, which must have come from fields a mile away," he explains. He's not alone in hosting unusual visitors. According to the Scottish Ornithologists' Club's quarterly report, grouse from the Lammermuir Hills have been seen at nine locations in lowland East Lothian, while one bird table in Dalkeith boasted regular visits from a red-legged partridge.

The report also tells of incidents in which adult swans have been seen pecking desperately at the breasts of younger birds after they've become frozen in ice, of woodcock – which need insects and worms to survive – being spotted wandering Musselburgh streets, and a distressing incident on Linlithgow Loch, when a dead adult swan lying on the ice was eaten by Moorhens, Coots and corvids.

James Reynolds, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in Scotland, agrees birds are struggling. He says: "This winter has been particularly harsh for wrens, blue tits, coal tits and robins. We are expecting to see significant reductions in the population due to the extreme weather.

"It remains to be seen over the spring breeding season how they have responded to the weather."

Larger birds – swans, wild fowl, ducks and geese – have been affected too. "They find it very difficult to feed because water is frozen," he says.

Sadly, frozen waterways means birds wander on to land nearby, sometimes with deadly consequences. A swan was knocked down and killed by a car at Holyrood Park last Friday.

Plants have also been affected by the weather, explains David Knott, curator of living collection at Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden.

"Many people have been lulled into a false sense of security by previous winters," he explains. "Traditionally hardy plants will not have had a problem, but those plants that people have seen on holiday – like tree ferns and olive trees – and have come home and planted, probably won't.

"Some might have been damaged by the weight of the snow or the frost. Some might recover, some not."

As for spring, it's definitely on its way, he says, we just have to learn to be patient. "All we need is a good three weeks of fantastic, mild weather and everything will catch up."

Visit the Scottish Ornithologists' Club at www.the-soc.org.uk.