How you can spot a nuthatch
BEFORE I started working for The Lancashire Wildlife Trust, I had never seen a nuthatch – I had probably never noticed one.
I think I would have realised, these are particularly beautiful birds and quite distinct from other birds in the UK.
My first sighting was while sitting at my desk. There was a bird feeder on the window behind me and the nuthatch would pop down a few times a day for a feed. It was just as welcome as the blue tits and great tits that ate the food we left out every day.
My best encounter, however, was walking along a river in Lancashire and seeing a nuthatch sitting in a tree. I crept towards it and got just underneath the branch it was on. It saw me and just ignored me, staying there for ages while I took lots of pictures.
The size of a great tit, the nuthatch looks like a small woodpecker. Its bill certainly looks like a woodpecker’s. It is a bluey-grey above with a black eyestripe, white cheeks and throat and a rusty belly.
You will see them climbing up and down trees in mature woodlands and parks. They feed on nuts and seeds and insects. Nuthatches nest in holes in trees or abandoned woodpecker nests but they will use nestboxes as they begin breeding in April. Stop! Just wait for a minute and think about that, nuthatches nesting in your birdbox and using your birdfeeder. Pretty exotic, eh?
The reason I am seeing nuthatches and that we are all seeing more nuthatches in the north west is because of an expansion of the birds’ territory since the early 1980s.
Habitat work by a number of organisations has led to a real nuthatch success story, in a world where many creatures have declined.
According to the Lancashire Bird Atlas, the total British population increased by 232 per cent during 1970-2010 and by 80pc between 1995 and 2010.
When a pair of nuthatches move into an area they will generally stay there.
They will live, on average, between two and four years – some have reached 10 years old.
You will hear them in woodland, with a “chit, chit, chit-chit” call which is quite loud compared to other birds.
Going back to an embarrassing episode of Pointless a couple of years ago, contestants were asked to name one of 50 birds pictured on a screen. I have mentioned this before. Most of the Pointless-teers knew the robin and the blackbird but then one said: “Is one a bluebird?”
I believe that was the nuthatch but all it does is reinforce my assertion that people do not get out enough and spend most of their time watching Disney (Zip-a-Dee-DooDah).
In fact, they obviously don’t get out into their own gardens if they think we have bluebirds flying around while failing to recognise the sparrows and starlings.
So your quest this week is to go out into your local park or nature reserve and try to spot as many birds as possible.
Look out for bird tables and feeding stations and you might just see a nuthatch – there are lots around.