July 2013
Flaming June has arrived at last. Yesterday (19th June) the temperature rose to 27°C. in the afternoon. The hottest day of the year so far. However today there are thunder storms forecast. At least the old adage that an English summer is “…2 hot days and a thunderstorm.” Seems to still hold true despite the other inconsistencies of our disrupted climate.
The Wrens nesting in our porch fledged today. I think there were about 5 babies. The Latin name for Wren is Troglodytes troglodytes meaning cave dweller. Wrens are insectivorous and love to go inside caves, buildings and other cavities. They are Britain’s commonest bird, which is surprising as many people rarely see them. The reasons they are rarely seen are that they are very small, they hide in undergrowth and apart from when they have freshly fledged babies, and they are rarely seen in groups. However, if a winter is particularly cold, they do sometimes roost in a group inside a cavity to keep warm. This could be a nest-box, hole in a tree or building. There are many ways in which Wrens are unique in Britain, for a start, they are apparently the only species of British bird whose ancestors evolved in the New World. There are many species of Wren in the Americas, but only one in the Old World.
However, all other species of British birds apparently had ancestors that evolved in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. Basically everywhere else apart from the Americas. Wrens are also unusual in as much as it is the male that usually builds the main nest, but the female can sometimes line the inside. The reason that Wrens are our commonest bird is that they can occupy almost every type of habitat, e.g. coast, hills, forest, garden wetland, and they distribute themselves throughout the land, and the male defends a territory of which there are estimated to be around 7.1 million in Britain. So the actual population is about double that. You may not see a Wren very often because of its shy skulking disposition, but you will certainly hear it, it has one of the loudest songs of all British birds, and will also make a very loud tick – tick call that can sometimes be very fast and long such that it sounds a bit like a chain being pulled through a pulley. Probably the main predator of the Wren is the domestic cat, but maybe the main cause of death is probably cold in the winter.