Wren

[Digeroo]

Perhaps I had never seen a wren up close before.  I thought they were brown.
But yesterday I saw one only a few inches away in full sunshine and it was lovely.  Almost golden spots and a flash of pale by the eyes.  It glistened in the sunshine.  Then gone.  So small.  I have two 1/2 plots on opposite site of the site, and have wrens on both.  And I have then nesting in the garden too, but they are very secretive.
And I have two robins.  They are very excited by my digging.   And Kes let me get remarkable close. 
All I need now is for the Jay to come back.

[Digeroo]

[Plot 18]

I agree 'common brown bird' doesn't do them justice, does it?

They seem to get darker as they get older, judging by this years young'uns in the hedge.

[pumkinlover]

I think that all our birds are beautiful if you study them. Makes my day to see them.

[galina]

We have a blackbird at the moment who thinks its spring.  Lovely, complicated songs at dawn.  Don't remember them ever singing like this during winter.  And robins as well, they come so close, so tame!  Love the birds in the garden.   

[rowbow]

Thrushes seem to be in decline, I haven't seen any for some time, they keep the snail population in check.

[Digeroo]

Bull finch, gold finch, great tit and wren.  All from my kitchen window. 

[galina]

Thrushes seem to be in decline, I haven't seen any for some time, they keep the snail population in check.

We are very lucky with our songthrushes, evidence of smashed shells on every hard surface and divine songs.  But they have gone for winter.  Strange after days and days of singing its little heart out the blackbird has today stopped singing.  Still there, just no dawn concert.  We don't have wrens or maybe we do and I don't recognise them. 

We used to get cuckoos in summer, but they must also be in decline, haven't heard any for years. 

[Digeroo]

Wrens are easy to identify.  They move very fast but are very secretive.  Blink and you miss them.  The up turned tail on a tiny bird - there is nothing else like it.  They nest in my pyracanthus, and seem to be able to bob in and out of the thorns without a problem.
So while I could see the bull finch and gold finch for quite a long time maybe 15 minutes, the wren only put in an appearance for a few seconds.

[Silverleaf]

If you learn what the wren's song sounds like you'll notice them all over the place in the summer. They are one of the UK's most common birds but they are pretty hard to see.

The song is a bit like a robin's, but faster, and always has a kind of "churrrrr" in the middle. It's extremely loud for such a small bird, sounds like it's shouting at the top of its voice all the time!

[Silverleaf]

I've just remembered a bit of trivia about robins which I thought I'd share.

The name Robin doesn't come from the bird - in fact it's the other way around! They used to be called redbreasts (for obvious reasons) but there was a fashion at one point for giving "people" names to birds. Robin redbreast, Jenny wren, Mag pie (pie meaning black and white, as in piebald).

Eventually we dropped the redbreast bit and now they are just robins. But magpie stuck, and you do occasionally hear people say jenny wren as well.

The name Robin is just a pet form of Robert.

[Digeroo]

I think when I was a child Jenny Wren was used more often.

[galina]

Thank you Digeroo and Silverleaf.  Off to google and youtube to expand my bird knowledge.  Just hope I will find  real life wrens after that.     Will let you know.

[Digeroo]

There are several youtube videos of House Wrens.  I think these are the USA version.  UK wren much small with upturned tail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw-NqhxwGWQ&t=62s

[galina]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtxUn_Ii_bY

The trill is quite recognisable, or it should be.  Hope I hear/see one soon. 

[small]

I still think of them as Jenny Wrens, but then I'm rereading Our Mutual Friend which has a character called that... We had a shed window barred with weldmesh (for the billy goat) and a wren got inbetween the close bars and nested in the gap, incredible that it could rear a brood in such a tiny space.
There is a pair of either rooks or crows, don't know which, living round here, I see them every morning  on a neighbour's chimney, this morning one of them was trying to perch on a telegraph wire and kept toppling forward, much too heavy for it.
About the only thing I like about winter gardening is the robins helping.