Gould observed 'With the Nutcracker must ever be associated recollections of Alpine scenery, forests of pine, cols and passes, The Alpine Club and its spirited climbers...for the bird is often seen by the British tourist among the Alps...At one moment it may be seen clinging head downwards and hammering away at a cone to obtain the seed within, at another with its breast and tail well up, and its head thrown back...'

'I am indebted to Dr Sclater for the branch of the Pinus cembra with its half-plucked cones, which he brought from Switzerland.'

DISTRIBUTION: Breeds central and southeastern Europe and from southeastern Fenno-Scandia eastwards to Kamchatka. Resident with periodic eruptions when food shortage force them into long-distance wandering. Few sightings in Britain, though over 300 seen in 1968