Master of austerity

There’s only one species of Nuthatch in the UK, the Eurasian or European Nuthatch, Sitta europaea, and it only lives in England and Wales and the very south of Scotland. Worldwide there are 29 or so different species of Nuthatch, with 15 of those in the mountains of central and southern Asia. That’s probably where their ancestors originated. Since then they have spread throughout the northern hemisphere; just not Scotland. 

They all have the same body shape, many have similar colouring and all have the distinctive black eye stripe. They all like ‘hatching’ nuts. 

They are experts at storing food and create their own food banks, hidden deep in the crevices of tree bark. That helps when times are hard. They can remember exactly where they stored their food for 30 days.

Nuthatch - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

When austerity comes, they are ready.

Feel free to leave a Reply :)