It's small, dun-coloured, has a very pronounced bobbing or curtseying
motion, and its short tail feathers stick up almost at right-angles to
its back. Its wingbeats seem louder and more staccato than most birds of
its size.

It has made a nest in a vertical earth bank under a fringe of long
overhanging grass and seems not to be at all phased by my proximity. I'm
intrigued to know what kind of bird it is.

Brian Mitchell

On 8/5/05 4:44, in article , "Brian
Mitchell" wrote:

It's small, dun-coloured, has a very pronounced bobbing or curtseying
motion, and its short tail feathers stick up almost at right-angles to
its back. Its wingbeats seem louder and more staccato than most birds of
its size.

It has made a nest in a vertical earth bank under a fringe of long
overhanging grass and seems not to be at all phased by my proximity. I'm
intrigued to know what kind of bird it is.

A wren?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On 8/5/05 4:44, in article , "Brian
Mitchell" wrote:

It's small, dun-coloured, has a very pronounced bobbing or curtseying
motion, and its short tail feathers stick up almost at right-angles to
its back. Its wingbeats seem louder and more staccato than most birds of
its size.

It has made a nest in a vertical earth bank under a fringe of long
overhanging grass and seems not to be at all phased by my proximity. I'm
intrigued to know what kind of bird it is.

A wren?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

The message
from Brian Mitchell contains these words:

It's small, dun-coloured, has a very pronounced bobbing or curtseying
motion, and its short tail feathers stick up almost at right-angles to
its back. Its wingbeats seem louder and more staccato than most birds of
its size.

It has made a nest in a vertical earth bank under a fringe of long
overhanging grass and seems not to be at all phased by my proximity. I'm
intrigued to know what kind of bird it is.

Janet Baraclough writes
Flycatcher?

Wren's are really tiny birds, and as you say the tail sticks up and is
very short, almost non-existent. Mine hop about on and under the hebe's
picking up insects.

Flycatchers, IIRC, tend to land on fence posts and then execute an
aerobatic loop to catch a fly / insect, and then land back again on the
same post, and they do this repeatedly.

--
David

Has to be, nothing else that I know of with a cocked tail. Does it go chip chip chip, tsee tsee?

"Brian Mitchell" wrote in message
...
It's small, dun-coloured, has a very pronounced bobbing or curtseying
motion, and its short tail feathers stick up almost at right-angles to
its back. Its wingbeats seem louder and more staccato than most birds of
its size.

It has made a nest in a vertical earth bank under a fringe of long
overhanging grass and seems not to be at all phased by my proximity. I'm
intrigued to know what kind of bird it is.


From your description, this sounds very much like a wren.

"undergroundbob" wrote in message
...

Has to be, nothing else that I know of with a cocked tail. Does it go
chip chip chip, tsee tsee?

If it does it with a fairly poor cockney accent, it may be Dick Van Dyke.

;-)

--
Brian
"Anyway, if you have been, thanks for listening."

Hi,

From now on I shall address the bird as "Wren," since that cocked tail
does seem to be the distinguishing feature. But all the images of wrens
I looked at on the net (thanks to everyone who supplied urls) showed a
lot of differences, and none looked exactly like this one.

Most of the pictures showed a darker back and wings and paler breast,
but this one looks much the same all round. Some showed little balls of
fluff on a finger's end, whereas this one is not that small and has a
comparatively long, sleek neck. I suppose there must be variation among
wrens --as I have come to realise there is among sheep! (I'm in Wales).

So a wren it is. Thanks all.

Brian Mitchell

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...

We have a wren nest inside a disused birdfeeder which is smothered in
ivy on top of a fence post. The babies are fledged but can't fly yet.

They'll find plenty of food in amongst the ivy strands.

It's about the only thing ivy's good for.
--
Brian