UNPACK your thermals - snow is expected in East Lancashire in the next 24 hours after forecasters said temperatures would tumble.

Gritters are out in force this evening amid warnings of hazardous driving conditions.

Forecasters said the area would get "a light dusting" of snow but the recent mild weather is set to return by the weekend.

Meanwhile, a wildlife expert says he saw the cold weather coming - with the help of the birds in his garden.

Ron Freethy, the Lancashire Telegraph's nature writer, said the number of birds migrating south from colder countries showed there was chilly weather on the way.

He said: "There has been massive bird movement. We are due a cold one, and we have been due a cold one for some time.

"I never believe in long-term predictions, but I do believe in bird movement.

"Every day I feed the birds, and I keep a log. I normally get one or two robins, but this morning there were nine - that means there were some Scandinavian robins coming in.

"So I think it's highly likely that we are going to get a cold winter - both by the law of averages and by the behaviour of the birds."

Dave Britton of the Met Office said the area would not be hit as badly as parts of Scotland and the North East, where up to 10cm of snowfall is expected.

He said: "It's turned incredibly cold, and temperatures will struggle to get beyond two degrees."

Mr Britton said the windy conditions would make the temperature feel more like minus five degrees this morning.

A county council spokesman confirmed "precautionary" gritting was going ahead on East Lancashire's ahead of the freeze, with its fleet of 48 vehicles in use across the county.

The council also has snow ploughs on standby should they be needed.

And Blackburn with Darwen council, which controls its own road network, has also put its fleet of gritters into action.

Highways Agency spokesman Neil Sterio warned motorists to make sure they had a full tank of petrol to avoid running out, leaving them stranded in the cold weather.

He added: "We are advising drivers to check weather forecasts and road conditions and not to travel if possible if it gets severe."