Birds / Accentors

Dunnock

Prunella modularis

Also known as Hedge sparrow and Hedge accentor

Common All year Gardens Woodland Farmland Towns

Test yourself

Recording: Patrik Åberg / xeno-canto

Sounds like

A hurried, flat, squeaky warble that stays on one level and stops abruptly, like a squeaky wheel turning.

Remember it

Fast and even, as if reciting a shopping list: no rises, no flourish at the end.

When and where

Listening for the dunnock

Heard: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Jan to Jul
Time of day: Dawn and Day
Where: Gardens, Woodland, Farmland, Towns
In Britain: All year
Family: Accentors

Side by side

Often confused with

Play them one after the other and listen for the difference.

Dunnock

Prunella modularis

JFMAMJJASOND

Fast and even, as if reciting a shopping list: no rises, no flourish at the end.

Wren

Troglodytes troglodytes

JFMAMJJASOND

Tiny bird, enormous voice. Listen for the machine-gun trill.

Robin

Erithacus rubecula

JFMAMJJASOND

Sweet but melancholy. A bird singing in the depths of winter is almost always a robin.

Could you pick out a dunnock?

Hear a song, choose from four birds, and build your streak.

Play the quiz

Same habitat

Also in gardens

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Blackbird

Turdus merula

JFMAMJJASOND

Slow, rich, fluting phrases that wander about and often trail off into a quiet chuckle.

Blue Tit

Cyanistes caeruleus

JFMAMJJASOND

Two or three thin, high notes followed by a fast, shimmering trill: 'tsee-tsee-tsuhuhuhu'.

Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs

JFMAMJJASOND

A cheerful, accelerating run of notes that tumbles down and ends in a flourish, repeated over and over.

Coal Tit

Periparus ater

JFMAMJJASOND

A fast, high, two-note phrase repeated several times: 'pitchoo-pitchoo-pitchoo'.