Nut Case

Nuthatches are fairly uncommon close to where I live but unexpectedly I have previously caught a couple when ringing everyday garden birds like Goldfinch, Dunnock and Blackbird. 

Nuthatch

On Tuesday there was a very vocal Nuthatch in the big sycamore in a neighbour’s garden, calling, whistling and generally shouting “this is my territory”. I thought no more about it until sat in the afternoon April sunshine when a bird flew from the said sycamore and landed in an ancient damson tree at the bottom of our unremarkable garden. Yes, the damson tree which hosts a beat up old nest box that is rarely occupied from one year to the next.

So to cut a long story short, I now have two Nuthatches nest building at the bottom of my garden, a very welcome first. Wednesday, and watching from the conservatory the two are still at it but in a less active manner during what is a cold and showery day.

Nuthatch - Photo: Sergey Yeliseev via Foter.com/CC BY-NC-ND 

To put this record into a local context the Nuthatch is far from common in this part of coastal Fylde, where there is a lack of suitable mature woodland, an absence which limits the species’ ability to increase its local population. Although Nuthatches are resident all year round they have a somewhat patchy breeding distribution related to their habitat requirements. 

If all goes according to a normal timetable I should BE ringing the youngsters by early to mid-May.

There's more nut case birding very soon. Be sure not to miss it.