What do dunnocks eat? Where do they nest? How long do they live for? You will find out all of these answers in more in this Dunnock fact-file.
Sometimes referred to as a hedge sparrows despite appearances Dunnocks are not closely related to sparrows at all and are in fact the UK’s only member of the accentor family. They have a wingspan of 19 to 21 cm and grow to 19 to 24 grams in weight. Dunnocks are mottled chestnut brown over most of their bodies with grey chests and heads with noticeable brown cheeks. Unlike true sparrows, dunnocks have thin and pointed beaks. They are a common garden resident and are also seen in deciduous woodlands, parkland, heathland and farmland edges. Throughout most of the year a dunnocks diet is almost entirely made up of insects and other invertebrates but during the colder months when these are in short supply, they will also feed on seeds, sometimes visiting bird feeders but usually hoovering up seeds from underneath them.
David Attenborough made the dunnock famous in his documentary, Life of birds where he uncovered some of their varied and complex breeding strategies. Its been found that although they can form single faithful pairs, this is often not the case with some females mating with multiple males, some males mating with multiple females and sometimes 2 pairs forming and working together in a 4 way relationships. Dunnocks typically start nesting April onwards with the female creating a cup shaped nest of twigs lined with moss and hair. Once complete she will lay 3 to 5 blue eggs that measure around 20mm in length. She will incubate the eggs alone for 12 to 13 days but once the chicks hatch, the father or potential fathers will help her to feed the rapidly growing chicks. It takes just 12 days for the chicks to be ready to fledge, although if the weather is bad or food is in short supply they can remain in the nest for longer than this. Once they do fledge, the chicks stay in their parents territory for a further 3 to 4 weeks after which point they will be fully independent. Each female dunnock will nest 2 to 3 times per year, using the same nest each time if it remains intact and sometimes even using the same nest for multiple years. Interestingly, Dunnocks are one of the favoured target species for nesting cuckoos who I will cover in a future video.
In the UK and in western Europe Dunnocks are resident all year round but in northern Europe and Russia they are migratory, staying to breed and then heading south into southern Europe and west Asia to spend the winter. Outside of this natural range Dunnocks have been successfully introduced into new Zealand.
In the UK there are an estimated 2.5 million dunnocks and over the past 50 years their numbers have been slowly growing following a share decline in the 1970s. They have an average lifespan of around 2 years but the oldest known dunnock survived to 11 years and 3 months of age.

Thanks to Scottish birders and nests who provided some of the footage used in this video. here is their channel:
   • Dunnock Nest Feeding Chicks !  
Cave O'Beirne also supplied some of the footage used in this video, his channel can be found at:
   • Dunnock Chicks in  nest in the garden  
Some of the other footage and images used were obtained using creative commons licences, the originals and their licence details can be found at:
   • Dunnock (Hedge Sparrow) On A Feeder  
   • Heggemussen paren / Dunnock Mating  
   • Video  
   • Accenteur mouchet (Prunella m. modula...  
   • Accenteur mouchet (Prunella m. modula...  
   • Голоса птиц: Лесная завирушка Prunell...  
   • Pěvuška modrá (Prunella modularis)  
   • ACCENTEUR Mouchet/Prunella modularis/...  
   • junge Heckenbraunelle ?  
   • Accenteur mouchet  
   • 12 Febbraio 2012 - Barengo  
   • Poursuite Rougegorge familier / Accen...  
   • Faune du Jardin Intérieur du Petit Pa...  
   • Video  
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