It has been predicted that this winter may see small finches like Pine Siskin and Common Redpoll irrupting from their northern ranges, as a result of seed crop failures. Whilst not quite indicative of this, siskins do normally migrate during autumn, it was interesting to see a flock of up to 13 siskins coming into the garden for a couple of days last week. 
The birds that visited our garden were mostly interested in the fresh water available at the pond.