Our Biggest Bird Success Story

Who’d have guessed that Britain’s most widespread breeding bird would be a tiny insectivore? Yet the wren has adapted to even our remotest island groups, and has colonised vast territories in Europe and Asia... but in birdkeeping it remains sadly under-represented. BILL NAYLOR profiles a stout-hearted little gem.

- Bill Naylor

UNTIL it emits its loud “tick-tick-tick” alarm call like a spinning fishing reel, a wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), often referred to by numerous names such as stumpy or Jenny, can be mistaken for a wood mouse skulking in the undergrowth. The smallest British bird after the goldcrest (Regulus regulus) and firecrest (R. ignicapilla), it is our commonest breeding bird in most areas. It’s also one of the few insectivorous birds that doesn’t migrate.

The origin and home of the 87 true wrens in the family Troglodytidae is the Americas. Our wren is the only one that occurs in Europe. The winter wren (T. hiemalis) of the US was, until recently, considered to be of the same species but is now treated as separate.

A run of mild winters in the UK has favoured the wren. That said, this hardy bird has been found living at heights of 760m (2,500ft) in Wales and even breeding at 3,960m (13,000ft) feet in Kashmir (Guinness World Records)! Yet prolonged cold periods drastically affect the wren population, which can drop by as much as 75 per cent.