Snatch a Hatch

 

 Nuthatch, adopting a typical head down pose. 

With fresh vegetation, invertebrates and herptiles thin on the ground at the moment, I decided to take a closer look at some of our more common woodland dwelling birds in this entry. The February lull is a fantastic time to look at birds like the nuthatch. This species goes from occurring in moderately good populations in the northern half of the Yeti recording area to being an extremely rare species in the southern half. This in some ways is relatively reflective of the species British distribution, with open areas such as arable farmland avoided. Nuthatch are quite highly dependent of trees and rarely venture vary far from tree cover, with occasional passage along mature hedgerows with trees, through open habitats. It is therefore not that difficult for areas to be cut-off, even when in quite a local context. The nuthatch has a preference for oak woodland in Britain and to a lesser extent beech and sweet chestnut.

 Nuthatch spend a great deal of time investigating cracks and crevices on trunks and branches

 Nuthatch predominantly forage on invertebrates, seeds and nuts with an emphasis on the latter two in autumn and winter. Much feeding is done on tree trunks and large branches. The nuthatch often descends down the tree headfirst, and can often be observed fairly closely as it meticulously checks every crack and crevice for tasty morsels. The nuthatch regularly wedges nuts, large seeds and occasional invertebrates into cracks in trees when they are difficult to open, then the bird will hammer the food item with its bill to open it, hence its name the nut hatch.

 Occasionally nuthatch will come down to the ground to hunt invertebrates and fallen nuts

Nuthatch are without doubt the stars of the show in woodland at this time of year, but they are often recorded with a supporting cast of blue tits, great tits, coal tits, long tailed tits, marsh tits and willow tits. I managed to capture a few of the following today as part of a wider tit flock. Marsh and willow perhaps will get their own post later on.     

Coal Tit

 

Blue Tit 

 Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

I managed to add small tortoiseshell (no photos unfortunately) to the YETI  list, which appeared to have emerged early due to the recent sunshine. Direct sunlight on south facing hibernacula can cause problems if the butterfly did not select a stable roost site, as seems the case with this one. It was looking a little worse for wear and may struggle to stay alive long enough for spring flowers to bloom. I also managed to add ivy-leaved water crowfoot to the list, growing in surface water run-off in a heavily cattle poached field edge.

Ivy-leaved Water Crowfoot

Robin, a striking species which deserves its photo in the YETI hall of fame. 

Likewise male black birds are also striking but often overlooked birds.