Nuthatch

This morning I was standing at the kitchen sink watching the squirrels and the blue tits in the trees outside when I noticed a small bird agitatedly pecking away at the trunk of one of the horse chestnut trees.  It was slightly larger than the tits but was too far away for me to identify, so I dashed through to the bedroom and grabbed my binoculars from the cupboard.  Fortunately the bird was still there when I got back to the kitchen.  Bluish grey above, creamy white with reddish tinges below, a black eye-stripe and long beak: a nuthatch (Sitta europaea).  It's been several years since I have seen one of these. We used to occasionally see them in the tree just outside the bedroom window, but that was before flats were built on field next door.