Young nuthatch

When the builders arrived, they pointed out an apparently dead bird on the patio, less than 1 metre from the patio doors and the room I had been in. It wasn't there 5 minutes earlier.

When I went to look, it turned out that although it was lying on its side, with its beak open, but not moving, it was breathing, and sometimes blinking the visible eye. And it was a young nuthatch of all things. Not all that young though, as it had a full set of feathers (though the breast showed almost no colour) and the beak was almost fully formed, though the tail was stubby. I watched over it anxiously for 20 minutes or more, and then it moved from its side to a more upright position, though it was still not moving around, and it was not actually standing on its legs. After another 15 minutes or so it stood, though still not moving around, at which point it occurred to me that I should take the opportunity to photograph it! It was another 20 minutes before it hopped rather unsteadily to the edge of the patio. During the next hour it moved around a little bit, and climbed onto a raised flower bed at the side of the patio, before perching for a while on a ladder leaning on the wall of the raased bed. Eventually it made its way on foot down the border at the side of the garden, and climbed into a bush, which was the last I saw of it.

I don't hold out great hopes for it, as it did not seem to be able to feed itself, and although it flapped its wings a bit a few times, it did not seem to be able to fly - perhaps it was unnerved after its previous attempt when it had presumably flown into the windows of the patio doors. There were not signs of parents  either - I do get visits from nuthatches to the bird feeders, but only much further down the garden.