FOR much of the year the dunnock is a most unobtrusive bird but all this changes in spring when they become the swingers of the bird world.

I watched a pair of courting dunnocks last week by a hedge bank in Strathdevon and it was an elaborate display of wooing with both birds raising their wings in exaggerated fashion. But this courtship gave little hint of the fact that these little dunnocks have a most racy sex life which if replicated amongst the good folk of a country parish would be deemed as quite scandalous.

The bird indulges in virtually every mating strategy possible. More than one male can be paired with the same female, or a male can be paired with more than one female. And two or more males may be with two or more females at the same time. But there are also some puritan birds who adopt the seemingly boring practice of monogamy.

Confused? Well it is all a game of adapting to the circumstances and trying to successfully pass on one’s genes to the next generation. It is very much a case of every bird for themselves.

If all this is not enough, at the peak of the courting season dunnocks may mate with each other up to 100 times a day. Furthermore, all this saucy behaviour is occurring in back gardens across the land right beneath your neatly trimmed berberis and cotoneaster bushes.

The male dunnock has a pleasant high-pitched song that is short and to the point. Another most interesting songster is the starling and I’ve been watching a pair building a nest under the eaves of our house. They are such compelling birds, filling the air with wonderful whistles, bubbles, clicks and chatters. Starlings are superb imitators of other birds – I knew of one that did an excellent impression of a tawny owl and another the yodelling of a green woodpecker.

So, if you hear the plaintive ringing call of a curlew in the centre of Alloa, more likely than not it is a starling doing its star act.