Little Jenny Wren

For a tiny bird the wren has an extraordinary loud voice.

- James Chubb

LAST Christmas I focussed on the quintessentially feathered festive figure and looked at Cock Robin. As a counterpoint to that column it seems fitting this year to feature the bird which was once thought to be the female robin: Jenny Wren.

Obviously we can scoot-on from the misconception that a wren is a female robin, ornithologists put that one to bed a good while ago. However, this ubiquitous bird of the Devon countryside is a fascinating little woodland sprite and worth a closer look.

Known to science as Troglodytes troglodytes, the repetitive latin name is an indicator that this is the archetype of the genus, our wren is the wren! The name Troglodytes can be broadly translated as “cave dweller” and comes from the birds habit of skulking around crevices and crannies in its pursuit of nesting places and on the hunt for insects and spiders which it nimbly picks at with its long thin bill.

The look of the wren is familiar to all of us – you’d have to live in a cave not to recognise one. Small, dumpy with short stumpy wings, a delicate speckled brown plumage and confidently cocked stiff tail, wrens will never win awards for extravagant looks, but their forte lies in their voice.