5 things you might not know about the nuthatch

2 min read
Nuthatch, a UK garden bird that climbs down trees head first

The nuthatch is a neat blue-grey bird with a black eye stripe, and it does something no other British garden bird will do. Here are five things about it.

1. It walks down trees head first

Most birds that climb trees, such as the treecreeper and woodpeckers, only go up. A nuthatch can forage while heading down a trunk head first, which lets it find insects and seeds that others walk straight past.

2. It builds a mud door

If a nest hole is too big, the female plasters the entrance with mud, clay and sometimes dung to shrink it. She often plasters the inside too, and the job can take up to four weeks. A smaller entrance may help keep predators out.

3. It hides food year-round

Nuthatches hoard food, mostly in autumn, pushing seeds into cracks in bark and covering them with lichen or moss. The stores are sometimes eaten up to three months later, and Siberian birds may store enough stone pine seeds to last a whole year.

4. It hammers nuts open

A nuthatch wedges a nut into a crevice in the bark and smashes it open with its bill. Unlike a woodpecker, it cannot chisel into healthy wood, so it relies on finding ready-made holes and cracks.

5. It mates for life, mostly

Nuthatch pairs stay together, but a German genetic study found that at least 10% of young were fathered by a male from a neighbouring territory. A typical nuthatch lives about two years, though the oldest wild bird in the UK reached 12 years and 11 months.

A note on names

Nuthatch was first recorded in 1350 and is probably linked to nut and an old word related to hack, because the birds hack at nuts wedged into crevices. Its scientific name, Sitta europaea, comes from the Ancient Greek name for the bird. There is very little folklore about the nuthatch, so if you know any, I would love to hear it.

What nuthatches like to eat, and where

Nuthatches take a seed at a time and fly off to wedge it somewhere safe, so a feeder near a tree with rough bark suits them well. They enjoy the sunflower hearts, kibbled peanuts and suet pellets in our seasonal bird food. Offer it in a Little Lantern seed feeder and watch for the quick dash in and out. If you are not sure which feeder suits your garden, our feeding quiz will point you in the right direction.

Want to keep track of the nuthatches in your garden? Amidst the Birdsong: A Garden Birdwatcher's Journal is made for exactly that.

Want to read about more garden birds? See all the birds in this series.

While you're here

Because there's always something worth knowing about the birds in your garden.
Clare Cahill

Thank you for reading!

Clare Cahill is a bird enthusiast with a passion for observing and learning. While she definitely doesn’t have a formal degree in ornithology, Clare has dedicated hours to reading birding books and exploring nature, constantly expanding her knowledge and deepening her love for wildlife.

For Clare, birdwatching brings a sense of calm and connection to the world, offering a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. She believes that the more we connect with nature, the more we can do to protect and conserve it. Through her writing, Clare hopes to inspire others to take a moment to pause, look up, and appreciate the calm and connection that comes from letting a little wildness into our everyday lives.

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When life feels busy, the birds keep it simple.

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