Best time to see: all year

Key facts

Confident garden bird, the gardener's companion

Originally a woodland bird, now found anywhere associated with man with a dense shrub layer

Widespread resident, aggressively territorial in the breeding season

Recognition

Red face and breast (juvenile has scaly brown breast); 13–15 cm

Upright confident bird; perches openly and hops about on the ground, looking for insects to eat; undulating flight

Sings its leisurely, slightly plaintive warbling song at almost any time of the year Play

Lifecycle

Males establish territories in late summer, and females go hunting for mates in mid-winter

Nest is a cup low down on ground, bank or tree stump; also use nestboxes and garden sheds

2 or 3 broods of 5–6 white eggs with reddish specks, April to June