Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

Nikon D850, Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6

f/6.3, 1/1250s, ISO 500, 460mm

May 2020.

A bird I think doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

Dunnock comes from the old english, Dun meaning dingy brown and Ock, meaning small. Which I think is a rather unfair description. I have found them to be both beautiful and charming.

As you can see from these pictures they have a soft grey colour on the front that merges into to the brown and black feathers of the head and back. At the height of the breeding season the grey feathers can have a blue sheen.

I watched this bird doing a mating display on top of this post for at least 10 minutes. It was the first time I had seen this in this species and it was very entertaining as it did a skipping, wingless dance trying to attract the attention of a female.