One of my favourite British woodland birds, the Nuthatches, are now in abundance at Rais and regularly visiting the feeders. I believe they are the only British bird to walk face first down a tree trunk, and as their name suggests, they come down to feast on the peanuts I have been hiding in tree stumps and crevices. Behaving like a tit-sized woodpecker they fly from trunk to trunk rather than branch to branch and spend quite some time choosing the right peanut each time they come down meaning it's not too difficult to get a good look at them close up. Something I spent 3 hours doing this morning in the hide. When not eating my offerings, they feed on insects, hazel nuts, acorns, beechmast and other nuts and seeds and apparently don't ever venture far from their nesting spots - so hopefully I can enjoy them for a good while to come. Light rain around, but really strong winds causing a worrying amount of debris to fall down from the trees around me - so I called it a day at lunchtime and look forward to a time when my hide is made from something more substantial than plastic tarps.Awards
Sunday 29 March 2015
Finally capture the Nuthatch (Sittidae)
One of my favourite British woodland birds, the Nuthatches, are now in abundance at Rais and regularly visiting the feeders. I believe they are the only British bird to walk face first down a tree trunk, and as their name suggests, they come down to feast on the peanuts I have been hiding in tree stumps and crevices. Behaving like a tit-sized woodpecker they fly from trunk to trunk rather than branch to branch and spend quite some time choosing the right peanut each time they come down meaning it's not too difficult to get a good look at them close up. Something I spent 3 hours doing this morning in the hide. When not eating my offerings, they feed on insects, hazel nuts, acorns, beechmast and other nuts and seeds and apparently don't ever venture far from their nesting spots - so hopefully I can enjoy them for a good while to come. Light rain around, but really strong winds causing a worrying amount of debris to fall down from the trees around me - so I called it a day at lunchtime and look forward to a time when my hide is made from something more substantial than plastic tarps.