The Dunnock

 When I was a boy my first bird book described "hedge sparrows" but at some time in the last 50 years this name has all but disappeared and these birds are now called dunnocks (as they are not closely related to House and Tree Sparrows)

Its easy to miss a dunnock! They are little brown birds and they tend to feed on the ground and keep to the cover of vegetation if they can. The males are territorial and the birds pair up in the spring. The pair are not strictly monogamous and the female will mate with another male if she gets the chance. DNA testing reveals that a brood often has more than one father. The male dunnocks are alert to this possibility and can sometimes be seen pecking at the cloacal opening of the female in an attempt to get her to expel the sperm of the competitor.

The sexes look alike and these birds are common and widespread in Britain. The males get involved in feeding young according to their breeding success so it is common to find two males and one female tending young. The females lay 3 to 5 blue eggs in nests that tend to be low down in the undergrowth.

Diary Notes

Overnight cameras revealed a badger active at around 2100 hrs. We saw rooks overhead today carrying twigs for nesting. We are having lovely sunny days at the moment but with temps dropping to minus 3C overnight. There are still large flocks of common gull about.