Slender-billed Nutcracker

As I understand it, there has not been a lot of kernels in the pine cones across Siberia this autumn. This has not been great news for the Nutcracker birds that feast on them in that part of the world. So, they have been departing their usual territories in droves and heading into continental Europe in search of the tasty kernels. Hundreds if not thousands have reached Scandinavia, according to the Birdguides website, which has also reported that at least two German migration sites have counted over 50 birds; they are into double figures in the Netherlands. The Nutcracker is a stunning crow-sized bird. Dark-brown plumage with white-speckles, almost like an inverted Song Thrush, but a corvid, definitely not a thrush. The image below was adapted from an original public domain photo taken by Andrew Agafonoff in Svetlyy, in September. A couple of weeks ago some had reached the coast of The Netherlands. There had been a possible sighting of one in Shetland on the 18th September, but there…