Biggest noise!

[Paul Wagland]

I think our loudest noise is the resident blackbird 'swearing' at a neighbouring cat!

This is exactly how I know when our chickens are being bothered by the local mogs. We have a big family of blackbirds and it always makes me laugh when they act all cross that someone else is using their garden!

[JennieAtkinson]

Well the wind has died down now and it is the oystercatchers which get our vote for the noisiest bird! They seem to be having fun though.

[Headfry]

I never knew that about wrens, got any more tip bits Birdie Wife?

[Birdie Wife]

weeeelll... *flicks through pages of memory*

1. They are the third smallest British breeding bird, after the firecrest and goldcrest.
2. (I think) they have the loudest song of any bird in comparison to their size - there are louder birds (eg in tropical forests) but weight-for-weight the wren sings loudest.
3. They are closely related to dippers.

Howzat?

[smallblueplanet]

...
3. Wrens are closely related to dippers.

I never knew that. Not seen one for ages, must go look soon...

Dippers are cool too!

[Birdie Wife]

Very!

I found some more interesting bits in a book about Scottish bird folklore...

4. There are several subspecies of wrens - St Kilda, Shetland and the Hebrides each have their own type of wren which are distinct from those on the mainland.

5. The Latin name Troglodytes troglodytes means 'one who creeps into holes'.

6. There is a Celtic ritual which probably stems from pagan days, which involves the stoning of a wren on what is now St Stephen's day.

I do a talk sometimes about the birds in the area and the folklore and I always end with the tale about the golden eagle and the wren, and they have a disagreement about who is the king of the birds. Thy decide to settle it by seeing who can fly the highest. The eagle sets off, flying higher and higher until the sheep are mere specks on the hill and soaring higher and higher still, he's above even the mountain tops and clouds and can see the wren nowhere. He thinks he has won the contest, until... he feels a tickle in the feathers on his head and out pops the wren. So that is how the wren was crowned king of the birds!

[Headfry]

Just lovely..... thank you BW, more pleeeease!

[Birdie Wife]

Hey Headfry, one more post and you'll come a Cropper!

[JennieAtkinson]

Thanks for mentioning the Shetland wren BW - we have a few that nest in the walls. They are so very tiny, I wonder how they get on with the wind here.

[Headfry]

Thanks Birdie Wife, I must admit I had not noticed
I am a cropper! !!!!

[Birdie Wife]

Thanks for mentioning the Shetland wren BW - we have a few that nest in the walls. They are so very tiny, I wonder how they get on with the wind here.

They really are tough little critters. I remember the same when I was working in Orkney - very few trees and bushes to nest in but overy 100 yards down the stone dykes there would be another bird with a nest, deep into the wall. Amazing little things. Baby wrens are just so unfeasibly small!

[whigger]

Wrens are beautifull little birds. And yes their song is incredible for their size. We have a wren which visits the garden and i'd love it if they nested.

Never realised they were related to Dippers.......one of my favourite birds, great factoid

[Nicos]

The 'biggest noise' - wildlife that is- in the garden was a fight between a squirrel and a magpie!
I'd never heard a squirrel squeal before

[Headfry]

A frog squeaking like a mouse when next doors cat had it cornered! what a noise and all from a FROG!!!!

[scared55]

Oh fab news scarey55, will they stay? 'The male wren makes more than one nest and the female chooses one and lines it' (Oxford 'Birdwatchers Handbook') - pictures of the family soon & later please!

No family yet, but here is the nest, last used by swallows two years ago - it looks like Mr Wren (I shall call him Chris) received a substantial grant for the improvements

KK