Dunnock in the spotlight

Nine times out of ten when I look out into the garden there will be a dunnock scuttling around the pots and plants. The sparrows arrive, and leave, the garden as one tight group but the dunnock rarely seems to take flight, preferring to wait out whatever has spooked the other birds tucked behind some greenery. This small unobtrusive bird spends most of the day clearing up underneath the feeders with the occasionally forage in the flower beds.

This afternoon, when I looked out and watched, it was competing for the spare seed with a particularly large wood pigeon who bullied until the dunnock hopped up onto a perch lit by the last afternoon rays. For a few minutes it sat taking up the fading warmth, and I like to think it relished its moment to be the one to shine.

Dunnock