Do you mean a nuthatch Stella?
I have never heard of a nutcracker being a bird.
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Ha ha… yes… Jane… sorry… (I was under the influence when I typed that post… ) hic
although there IS a nutcracker… and I have seen one here in the woods nearby… “nucifraga caryoctactes” comes under the crow family…
A nutcracker IS a bird - it is a sort of corvid, rather like a jay but not as bright and with a longer beak.
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cheers Vero… it’s another of those birds… when you see it, you cannot mistake it… with its long fingers flipping backwards in flight…
I have seen this bird once, but did not know its name.
It’s main habitat is pine forests, so it was a bit out of the way here.
As you say, once seen not forgotten, but it was obviously a member of the corvid family.
I saw it in flight, so didn’t get a chance to study it… and, sadly, it has hidden from me ever since…
It’s very striking colouring and undulating wing movements are very distinctive… and rang a bell in my head… OH thought I had gone potty as I was transfixed, staring at the bird, and muttering to myself, trying to get the name right…
When I showed a picture of this bird to a french friend they said it was probably a young bird that had been blown off course, probably from the Jura.
I used to query “unexpected” sightings… with my younger brother… who was the “expert”… and he would often laugh and say…
“Stella, if the habitat and food source is acceptable… there is no reason why ***** bird should not be in such-and-such an area…”
and, as you say, Jane, after exceptionally strong winds… it is quite possible to find birds which have been blown off-course.
That used to happen in UK…from time to time… 
Edit: I’ve been investigating and it seems that the Nutcracker used to be seen regularly in Great Britain… but rarely nowadays.
John Gould (1804-1881) did a wonderful picture of a Nutcracker… I have one of his books/compilations … amazing detail.
We heard our first one on 30 March and since then they haven’t shut up.
My neighbour showed me a photo of a Hoopoe that has visited her window (taps on it for food) every day for the last 3 days!
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they are strange looking birds… not seen ours so far this year…
everything seem delayed … no frogs or cicadas either and they are usually making their evening chorus/row before now…
Last year our pair raised three young.
We love the whoop sound and they are so pretty.
The frogs are DEAFENING here, some go under my pool cover (it is like a greenhouse) which makes a marvellous echo chamber, some in the courtyard which is obv an equally marvellous echo chamber. Then there’s a tank thing for rainwater which provides EC3 and off they go.
I reckon you have lured “my” frogs into your ideal environment…
When/if my lot ever arrive… they are not exactly deafening… but it is impossible to NOT hear them… what with them and the chirping of the cicadas… it is no gradual thing… one night there is silence… the next there is an uproar… I love it…
They inhabit the meadows below my terrace… right the way down to the little river/stream … and then all the sounds bounce back from the opposite hillside… magic !!
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Cicadas are in our meadow down to the stream and the sound bounces back to us too. I have made their sound my phones ringtone.