Immature Nuthatch ( Sitta europaea )

Kat was going to be with us until her lift arrived in the late afternoon.  Being the first up she and I sat watching the birds through the window.  She picked up my camera and took many many shots of the adult Great Spotted Woodpecker and the fledgling.  I took my "just in case shots".  The rest of the day was hectic so I have settled on my shot of a Nuthatch.


As I have remarked before I have a soft spot for Nuthatches.  When I was a boy they were an "exotic" only found well south of Cumbria.  By the time of the first Atlas of Breeding Birds some had reached Cumbria.  During the research for the Atlas 1968 -71 there were records in 6 tetrads (2Km x 2Km square).  The majority of the population was south of a line between the Mersey and Hull.

The Bird Atlas 2007 - 11 shows an entirely different picture almost every tetrad south of a line between Glasgow and Edinburgh has breeding recorded.There are some records north of this line and the slight exception of parts of the East Coast not having a breeding population.  What a difference 40 years has made to the species.

Why has this happened?  I don't know.  It may be climate change, habitat improvement, lower mortaility rate or a number of other possibilities.