Dunnock

This Dunnock is about to be released, having been ringed in Heene Cemetery on March 15th 2021.

Species: Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

Family: Accentors (PRUNELLIDAE)

Category: Birds

Location: NW

A = Species Category, B = Species Family, C = Species

A. Birds

More extensive information on birds can be found in a separate blog post.

B. Accentors (PRUNELLIDAE)

Accentors are small, unobtrusive brown birds, that live mainly by omnivorous ground foraging. Well they may be unobtrusive, for they have a bewildering variety of breeding strategies, monogamy (1M+1F) and polygamy, and the latter may be polygyny (1M+2 or more F), polyandry (1F+2 or more M), or polygynandry (2 or more M+2 or more F). They must be among our most permanently exhausted birds.

C. Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

Once referred to as the Hedge Sparrow, it is not related to the Sparrows, and has maintained its numbers rather better, with 2.5 million pairs in 2016. However, this is quite a decline, and so it has a conservation status of RED. It is a resident breeder, and Winter visitor.

The Dunnock is listed on the IUCN Birds of Conservation Concern: Red List. It is classed as a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species. It is protected under Section 41 of The Natural Environment & Rural Communities Act, 2006, and is also on the Sussex Notable Bird List.

A = Species Category, B = Species Family, C = Species

Images

This Dunnock is about to be released, having been ringed in Heene Cemetery on March 15th 2021. This was done by a registered bird ringer. (For more information about bird ringing, see https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/ringing/about.)

Once referred to as the Hedge Sparrow, the Dunnock is not related to the Sparrows.