Nuthatch (Sitta europaea)

A bit of a red letter day for our garden birds.   We get the very occasional Nuthatch dropping in.  Today not only one but two and visiting the table for quite a long time.

30 or 40 years ago there were no Hutchatches in the county (well back then counties Cumberland & Westmorland).  They have been slowly moving their range further north.  By the last Atlas survey they were breeding in virtually all tetrads north to a line from Ayr to Edinburgh with possible breeding in odd places north to the Cairngorms.