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.

Despite lacking unusual physical attributes or behaviour, the wren has been part of folklore since ancient times. The robin and the wren were once assumed to be an item, “Jenny Wren” and “Cock Robin”. According to one of many legends the wren won its title “The King of Birds” in a competition to see which bird could fly the highest. When the eagle could fly no more, the wren – which had deviously hidden in the raptor’s feathers – mysteriously avoided disqualification, flew higher and stole the crown. This title created problems for the little impostor, because the Christmas ritual of wren hunting became an annual event in Britain and the rest of Europe for hundreds of years.