Garden Wildlife
Garden Wildlife
Garden Wildlife
Garden Wildlife
What do they look like?
Superficially like a house sparrow in size (14 cm), build and colour, the dunnock has a very different looking head end. The head is slaty-bluish grey (depending on the light) and this extends onto the upper flank, throat and breast, making the bird look rather dingy compared with House Sparrow. The nape, back, tail and wings are brown with darker brown streaks. Unlike the house sparrow dunnocks don’t have any creamy markings on the back, so they look duller. The belly and flanks are grey with darker brown streaks. The bill is dark and the legs red and they kind of stand out in contrast to the general dull appearance of the bird. With respect to this very understated colour scheme, dunnock is a good name. Male and female are alike. See our "sparrows" page to compare species.
What do they sound like?
Dunnocks can be heard singing loudly from very early in the spring, and even in suburban areas they can be surprisingly commonly heard – one per garden, almost. The song is a rippling cascade of notes with a bit of a trill at the end. I think it sometimes sounds a bit wren-like. Here are some examples of the song:
Dunnock Prunella modularis
In the top six of the BTO Garden Birdwatch league table, dunnocks are classic ‘little brown jobs’ very similar in overall appearance to other small brown birds like house sparrows. Indeed one of the more common English names for dunnock is ‘hedge sparrow’, but the dunnock is not closely related to the house and tree sparrows, being a member of the family Prunellidae or "accentors". They have thin sharp bills, typical of insect feeders, a contrast to the short thick bill of the true sparrows.
What do they eat?
If you look at its pointed bill, you can see that the dunnock is primarily insectivorous during the warmer parts of the year, although it eats seeds in winter and will come to bird feeders.
What do they do?
Dunnocks are among the busiest of garden birds. They regularly creep about either hopping or walking on the ground seeking food. They are intensely territorial, often perching and hopping higher in shrubs and small trees close to each other with a distinctive upwards wing-flicking display. This can go on for long periods repeatedly during the day, especially early in the year. This wing flick is pretty distinctive among garden birds in the UK.
Research has shown that dunnocks have very flexible relationships, ranging from polyandry (several males, one female) through monogamy to polygyny (one male, several females) depending on the local population circumstances.
Dunnocks born in the UK tend to stay within a kilometre of their birthplace, with no obvious pattern of long distance migration. In much on mainland Europe however, dunnocks are migratory in winter, moving south-west.
How are they doing?
Dunnocks declined by over 40% between 1975 and 1995, but then recovered somewhat to 2016 population of 2.5 million territories. There may have been a small decline in the last five years, but this may have been a hiccup. Dunnocks are ‘Amber listed’ as a species of some concern for conservation because of their long-term decline.
Finding out more:
BTO profile on dunnock
RSPB profile on dunnock
Page written by Roy Smith, compiled by Steve Head
Jacob Spinks, XC639594. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/639594.
Shaun Micklewright, XC635053. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/635053.
jesus carrion, XC622406. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/622406.
Dunnocks have a distinctive ‘tseep’ contact call that you might hear in a garden shrubbery:
Dunnock Prunella modularis
In the top six of the BTO Garden Birdwatch league table, dunnocks are classic ‘little brown jobs’ very similar in overall appearance to other small brown birds like house sparrows. Indeed one of the more common English names for dunnock is ‘hedge sparrow’, but the dunnock is not closely related to the house and tree sparrows, being a member of the family Prunellidae or "accentors". They have thin sharp bills, typical of insect feeders, a contrast to the short thick bill of the true sparrows.
What do they look like?
Superficially like a house sparrow in size (14 cm), build and colour, the dunnock has a very different looking head end. The head is slaty-bluish grey (depending on the light) and this extends onto the upper flank, throat and breast, making the bird look rather dingy compared with House Sparrow. The nape, back, tail and wings are brown with darker brown streaks. Unlike the house sparrow dunnocks don’t have any creamy markings on the back, so they look duller. The belly and flanks are grey with darker brown streaks. The bill is dark and the legs red and they kind of standout in contrast to the general dull appearance of the bird. With respect to this very understated colour scheme, dunnock is a good name. Male and female are alike. See our "sparrows" page to compare species.
What do they sound like?
Dunnocks can be heard singing loudly from very early in the spring, and even in suburban areas they can be surprisingly commonly heard – one per garden, almost. The song is a rippling cascade of notes with a bit of a trill at the end. I think it sometimes sounds a bit wren-like. Here are some examples of the song:
Dunnocks have a distinctive ‘tseep’ contact call that you might hear in a garden shrubbery:
What do they eat?
If you look at its pointed bill, you can see that the dunnock is primarily insectivorous during the warmer parts of the year, although it eats seeds in winter and will come to bird feeders.
What do they do?
Dunnocks are among the busiest of garden birds. They regularly creep about either hopping or walking on the ground seeking food. They are intensely territorial, often perching and hopping higher in shrubs and small trees close to each other with a distinctive upwards wing-flicking display. This can go on for long periods repeatedly during the day, especially early in the year. This wing flick is pretty distinctive among garden birds in the UK.
Research has shown that dunnocks have very flexible relationships, ranging from polyandry (several males, one female) through monogamy to polygyny (one male, several females) depending on the local population circumstances.
Dunnocks born in the UK tend to stay within a kilometre of their birthplace, with no obvious pattern of long distance migration. In much on mainland Europe however, dunnocks are migratory in winter, moving south-west.
How are they doing?
Dunnocks declined by over 40% between 1975 and 1995, but then recovered somewhat to 2016 population of 2.5 million territories. There may have been a small decline in the last five years, but this may have been a hiccup. Dunnocks are ‘Amber listed’ as a species of some concern for conservation because of their long-term decline.
Finding out more:
BTO profile on dunnock
RSPB profile on dunnock
Page written by Roy Smith, compiled by Steve Head
What do they eat?
If you look at its pointed bill, you can see that the dunnock is primarily insectivorous during the warmer parts of the year, although it eats seeds in winter and will come to bird feeders.
What do they do?
Dunnocks are among the busiest of garden birds. They regularly creep about either hopping or walking on the ground seeking food. They are intensely territorial, often perching and hopping higher in shrubs and small trees close to each other with a distinctive upwards wing-flicking display. This can go on for long periods repeatedly during the day, especially early in the year. This wing flick is pretty distinctive among garden birds in the UK.
Research has shown that dunnocks have very flexible relationships, ranging from polyandry (several males, one female) through monogamy to polygyny (one male, several females) depending on the local population circumstances.
Dunnocks born in the UK tend to stay within a kilometre of their birthplace, with no obvious pattern of long distance migration. In much on mainland Europe however, dunnocks are migratory in winter, moving south-west.
How are they doing?
Dunnocks declined by over 40% between 1975 and 1995, but then recovered somewhat to 2016 population of 2.5 million territories. There may have been a small decline in the last five years, but this may have been a hiccup. Dunnocks are ‘Amber listed’ as a species of some concern for conservation because of their long-term decline.
Finding out more:
Page written by Roy Smith, compiled by Steve Head
