Dancing dunnocks

Another sunny day…I even managed to hang the washing out on the line, and the long-tailed tits on the peanut cage didn’t flinch when I was standing within a few feet of them. A flurry of movement along the garden fence revealed that the dunnocks are now dancing in earnest; they can provide endless entertainment once the hormones start flowing. Jumping up and down while flicking their wings in the air, presumably only they can hear the music that their display of aggression/affection is choreographed to. This relatively unobtrusive ‘little brown job’, the hedge sparrow of my youth and the hedge accentor of modern nomenclature, has a fascinating mating system. One strategy is for the female to actively encouraging mating with two males so that, when the business of chick-rearing comes about, she has an increased amount of support. From the perspective of the male, it’s in his interest to mate with as many females as possible, but to not allow ‘his’ females to mate with other males. This leads to females mating with additional males under the cover of dense vegetation to avoid being seen. And all of this is probably going on in your back garden…