A Year in the Valley

A Year in the Valley

Discovering the flora and fauna in a small square of Portmellon Valley

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  • Dunnock

    Dunnock
    Original featured image

    I spotted the dunnock a couple of weeks ago and was hoping to get a better photo, but I haven’t seen it since.  It is much more speckled than a sparrow, with a darker speckled back.  It has a straight-out tail, rather than sticking up like a wren.  It has a thin beak, not chubby like a sparrow (though you can’t see the beak in this picture).

    It has wren-like behaviour, frequenting the lower boughs and shrubs, hunting for insects to eat.  This one was perched on the watermeadow fence behind the alders.

    Dunnock update 05/01/24 – I have replaced the featured image, because I have now realised that the dunnock is a regular visitor to our bird feeder, which enabled me to get a better photo.  It hops around the bottom of the feeder and bushes like a wren, but here it was perched up in a small tree.  You can clearly see its thin dark beak, which has helped me separate it from sparrows.

    Daisy D

    17 November 2023
    Birds
    Dunnock

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  • December 2023
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  • October 2023
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  • August 2023
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  • June 2023
  • Spotted in September
  • Spotted in August
  • Spotted in July
  • Spotted in June
  • Conclusions