Dunnock
Prunella modularis
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The quiet grey-brown bird shuffling under the feeder — overlooked, and with a startlingly complicated love life.
Often mistaken for a house sparrow, the dunnock is slimmer, greyer about the head and breast, and has a fine, pointed insect-eater's bill rather than a seed-cracker's. It works the ground beneath hedges, feeders and shrubs with a distinctive low, shuffling creep. Common right across Dumfries gardens, allotments and hedgerows, but so unobtrusive that most people never register it as a separate bird.
Behaviour
Dunnocks have one of the most complicated breeding systems of any British bird. Territories overlap, and a female will often mate with two males, both of which then help feed the chicks — so each male has reason to stay. Feeding is almost entirely on the ground: they hop and shuffle rather than scratch, taking small insects and, in winter, tiny seeds. The song is a brief, flat, slightly squeaky warble delivered from a hedge top.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Accentors (Prunellidae)
- Size
- 14 cm · sparrow-sized
- UK status
- Amber-listed
Photo by Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons