Dunnock

The Dunnock is similar in size to the House Sparrow, but is a sleeker bird with a fine bill. It has a grey head and chest and is brown elsewhere. The upperparts and flank are streaked with a warm-brown colour. They have beautiful dark red eyes. Their song is a thin and tinkling sweet warble.

Young birds are a speckled brown and grey and have olive-brown eyes. They develop mahogany-red colour eyes when they reach their first Christmas.

The Dunnock is a quiet and unobtrusive bird and is often seen on its own, creeping about with a nervous, shuffling movement, often flicking its wings and tail as it goes in search of food. The Dunnock feeds on insects, spiders, worms and seeds.

They inhabit well-vegetated areas with brambles, hedges and scrub. You can see them in deciduous woodland, farmland edges, parks and gardens.

Some people still refer to the Dunnock as the ‘Hedge Sparrow’. The Dunnock is not a Sparrow. It belongs to a family called the accentors, which originate in the Himalayas.

The Dunnock is a host of the Common Cuckoo. It accepts the Cuckoo eggs even though there is no resemblance to their own.

You can see them all year round and they are abundant throughout Britain.