Specie's Page                                               Garden and Hedgerow - Dunnock

Dunnock:

UK Status: Resident and native.

Habitat: Suburban parks and gardens, woodland, heaths, moors, and farmland, in fact anywhere with dense shrubs and hedgerows with a plentiful food supply. They eat spiders, insects, worms and seed.

Breeding: Nests are shallow cups made of dried grass and straw, with a finer lining of softer material such as sheep's wool, horse hair or other similar scavenged materials. Nest are placed a few feet above the ground, in thick bushes or hedgerows, hawthorn hedges are especially favoured. They lay three to five small turquoise blue eggs per clutch. There may be two, or three broods a year.

Comment: This species is well distributed throughout the British Isles, only being absent from high mountainous areas. In lowland areas it can be quite common, especially in suburban areas. It is of concern however, as it's numbers have declined over recent decades, probably due to the loss of hedgerows.