I have one quite dry compost heap which the slow worms overwinter in. If yours is like this then you may want to throw new compost on the top rather than dig too deep. When the weather warms up a bit you can always fork over and damp down the pile then.
Even if you are not too bothered about disturbing any possible hibernating wildlife, its still a good idea to try and be careful where you stick the fork because you may have hedgehogs or frogs snoozing in your compost at this time of year (you feel much better if you don't learn that one by mistake believe me!)
