MarkyMark's Nature Blog -A woodland bird #5

Nuthatch - Photo by Mark Appleton

Today I intended to take my once daily allocated exercise up the local woods and at the same time hopefully grab a few photos of butterflies for a future blog. I know I am very lucky as everyone does not have a woods local to them to walk to, so hopefully I can bring a bit of  the woods to them instead and maybe in some future blogs too.

 I left later today on purpose to get the warmed up butterflies in the sunshine. I  was a bit nervous about how many people would be up the woods as there's always a few people who still don't seem to know how far 2M is and I constantly found myself jumping into the undergrowth to remain safe from the two abreast walkers. Please remember the distancing guidelines and be courteous people. Politeness and a smile makes the world a better place. On one such occasion, while waiting for the people to pass by, I observed two Nuthatches on a tree. So I am afraid Nuthatches have now hijacked todays butterfly blog. Pictures are all mine some previously taken and some today with the nest hole.

Nuthatch - Photo by Mark Appleton

The Nuthatch is primarily a woodland bird, preferring big trees. Nuthatches can't resist nutty treats so you maybe lucky to see one on your garden feeder if your garden is near the sort of mature woodland where the Nuthatches are already present. Nuthatches mainly come to gardens with hanging nut feeders. As you can see the Nuthatch is a unique blue grey above, buff below, bold black stripe running through the eye and rusty flanks. It has a wedge-shaped head and bill and the tail is short and square with black and white corners. Note they are chunky robust birds with a front end a bit  like a woodpeckers, with a  powerful long chisel bill..

Nuthatch -Photo by Mark Appleton

The Nuthatch is an agile climber and is the only regularly occurring, British bird which habitually moves headfirst down trunks and branches as well as climbing upwards. It wedges nuts and seeds in bark so it can crack them open, with loud blows of its long ,grey chisel-like bill. This is how its name was derived and dates back to at least the 14th century, where hatch was an old obsolete word  thought to mean 'hack'




In Britain individuals seldom travel far from the woods where they first hatched. Pairs remain in their territories for the whole year and the young do not move far away.

Did you know:- The oldest known wild bird lived for more than 11 years and none occur in Ireland.

Nuthatch Nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

It nests in natural holes in trees and sometimes uses a hole in a wall or a nest box. Typically plasters mud around old woodpecker hole. This is the hole I witnessed with the Nuthatches at its entrance in my local woods today. To prevent larger birds entering the nest the female reduces the size of the entrance with mud. This is what I believe I was witnessing today.The nest cavity is filled with dead leaves or pieces of bark. 6-8 eggs are laid in April or May and incubated by the female for 16-17 days. The young are fed in the nest by both adults for 23-24 days. Sometimes 2 broods are produced.

The following pictures are what I witnessed next.

Nuthatch building nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch outside nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch building nest -Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch inspecting nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch inspecting nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch inspecting nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch building nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch outside nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch outside nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch outside nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatch building nest - Photo by Mark Appleton

Nuthatches produce many of the 'strange bird sounds of the woods.
You can listen to what they sound like by clicking on this link:- Nuthatch Call

For more information about the Nuthatch click on this link:- RSPB Nuthatch

and lastly

A BIG SHOUT OUT FOR ALL OUR ESSENTIAL KEY WORKERS WHO ARE DOING AN AMAZING JOB IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES

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