Songbird Saturday: the Wren

One of the UK’s smallest birds, the tiny Wren nevertheless punches way above its pound-coin weight with a song that’s loud and proud.

Found in a huge array of different habitats, the Wren is a widespread and common bird. Despite this, these balls of feathers delight wildlife lovers far and wide. In part this is because, with their distinctive shape, upturned tails, brown plumage and white eye-stripe – features shared by both males and females, which look the same – they are one of the easiest bird species to identify – especially by contrast to some of the UK’s ‘little brown jobs’, as birders call them. But it’s also because of the beautiful, bright, bubbling song that this little bird belts out, hour after hour, with admirable reliability.

Their song – a succession of high-pitched, bell-like trills – is one of the easier ones to learn. Once you get your ear in, you’ll hear it all over, no matter where you live in the county. Their alarm call is a loud stoney ‘tchick, tchick, tchick’, often heard emanating from the undergrowth.

Unlike other birds which often perform from lofty perches, the Wren tends to pick lower stages, singing from the tops of hedges or fence posts, making it more possible to watch them mid-song – a magical experience. Regardless, you’ll usually hear the Wren before you see it.

You can happily hear the Wren pretty much all year round, from dawn to dusk, such is its regularity. Yet, familiarity could never breed contempt as the Wren’s song rings out through woodland, parks, urban gardens and blustery hillsides, brings instant cheer to any setting, from woodland to wetland, any day.