What they like

Dense, slightly messy cover: hedges, shrubs, brambles, ivy, hedgerows. And a ground where it can still rummage through the leaf litter. Leave a little corner of leaves in the garden. Keep the edges of garden, park and yard nicely rough. In the countryside: wide, shrub-rich field margins and ditch sides that aren’t closely mown.

Ecological importance

Mostly eats insects, larvae, spiders and small snails. In autumn also some seeds. It tidies up the small pests that would otherwise keep nibbling on young plants. And it’s prey for sparrowhawk and cat: cover is therefore not a luxury, but life-saving.

When in the Netherlands

All year round. In spring you’ll hear its thin, rapid little song from the hedge.

Status

Common, but vulnerable if we keep making everything “tidy”. More shrubs, more leaf litter, more hedges = more dunnocks.