Thursday 4 October 2012

The Dunnock............................................................ not just a little brown job

Dunnock (Prunella modularis) or Hedge Sparrow when I was a lad.

While I have been capturing images of all the birds on my feeders recently one little bird has been busy on the ground picking up bits and pieces dropped from above.

This bird had also been using the hole in my fence but the bright little Robin has stolen the limelight.
As well as Hedge Sparrow the Dunnock has also been known as Hedge Accentor or Hedge Warbler.

As a child growing up on the 1960's this was the first bird I handled in the garden... freeing them from the nets covering my dad's strawberries when their feet got entangled.

Juvenile
A small shy bird (15cm) they spend much of their time on the ground or in vegetation...
...a bit of a change from watching my bottle feeder which by the way has been up for two weeks today.

Have I beaten the squirrels... only time will tell

8 comments:

Modesto Viegas said...

Good post!!!
Nice bird!

TexWisGirl said...

beautiful little birds. even though they are not flashy, their color variations are no less intricate and perfect.

Adam Tilt said...

So much more than a little brown job. Often overlooked but one of my favourite birds.

Ana Mínguez Corella said...

Nice pictures!!!.. I love squirrel.. So beautibul.. Cheers!!!..

i stora drag said...

Nice photos of this little brown bird and of the squirrel.
Have a nice weekend!
Greetings Pia

Horst in Edmonton said...

Hi Andrew, we have a little bird here that is very similar to the Dunnock. Our bird is called the Chipping Sparrow. It does the same type of forging as the Dunnock. Lovely photos.

Indrani said...

Very well captured. The squirrel will always be my fav. :)

Hootin Anni said...

...such a pretty bird!!! And the squirrel is too cute for words.