Eurasian Nuthatch

Comfortable upside down on a tree trunk

The Nuthatch is a compact, short-tailed bird, blue-grey above and warm orange-buff below, with a black stripe through the eye and a strong, pointed bill. Woodpeckers and treecreepers climb up tree trunks; a Nuthatch goes down them head-first just as easily.

It lives in deciduous and mixed woodland, parks and gardens with old trees. In summer it eats insects, in winter seeds and nuts. It wedges a nut into a crack in the bark and hacks it open, which is where the name comes from.

Nuthatches nest in old woodpecker holes and plaster the entrance with mud until it is just their size. Their loud, ringing whistles are one of the first sounds of spring in the woods.