Dunnock

The dunnock is described by its name which derives from the Old English word for ‘little brown’. This is because, from afar, they do look drab. However, when viewed closely dunnocks are actually quite attractive.They have a blue-grey head and breast, light and dark brown streaky back, brown-streaked flanks and pink legs. Their bill is thin and black, perfect for eating insects. 

Although they may appear quite dull, they actually have fascinating sex lives. Although many dunnocks have monogamous pairings (one female and one male), others have more complex arrangements. Unusually for a bird species, both female and male dunnocks have their own breeding territories. The territories of males are usually larger and overlap with female territories, allowing them to mate with two or more females (known as polygyny). Females will also often mate with more than one male (known as polyandry).There are even cases of polygynandry, which can involve two or three males mating with three or four females. If that wasn’t complicated enough, some male territories may be shared by two males, one alpha and one beta. The two work together to defend the territory against intruders. The alpha spends a lot of time guarding his females from the beta. If the alpha’s females get a chance to mate with the beta it’s a bonus for them as more food will be provided by the males, increasing their chances of a successfully raised brood.

As I walked along the hedge leading to Old Sulehay Forest this bird was singing its characteristic song, an unhurried sweet warble falling somewhere between the song of a wren and a robin, involved in an aural battle with another dunnock on the edge of the wood. 
The morning was mild and spring-like, and when I entered the wood it resounded with the drumming of woodpeckers. The sheets of snowdrops were past their best, though still spectacular, but the other woodland flowers were still largely absent, apart from the greenish flowers of spurge-laurel and a single primrose growing on a mossy stump, though I spotted the leaves of wood anemones peeping through the leaf mould, preparing for the next spectacle in a few weeks.. 

I walked gingerly along the muddy paths to the limestone quarry at the north end of the wood, where I found five Highland cattle gazing, gentle inquisitive creatures, who didn't mind me hanging out with them for a while.Unlike the sheep who hid timidly in the bushes. 

On the way back through the wood I spotted the effects of Storm Doris, which had broken tree limbs and twisted the tops off some of the ash. One tree had been split clean in half and one half was leaning precariously across the path, propped up by another tree. It'll be an interesting one for the site manager to fell safely.