Sitta europaea, Nuthatch

Common Name: Nuthatch

Sitta europaea, more commonly known as the Nuthatch, has a long pointed bill and short tail and, unlike woodpeckers and the Treecreeper, it climbs up, down and around the tree trunk and branches using its powerful toes.

The upperparts, wings, crown and nape are blue-grey and the underparts are orange-buff, changing red-brown on the flanks and towards the vent. Beneath the black eye stripe, which gives it a bandit-like appearance, is white. The bill is grey and the legs yellowish-brown.

The Nuthatch feeds mainly on nuts and seeds, such as acorns and hazel nuts, in the autumn and winter, but insects, such as spiders and beetles in the summer. They are increasingly visiting gardens for nuts and seeds. It breeds in central and southern England and Wales, and is resident, with birds seldom travelling far from the woods where they hatch.

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