Small brown birds in UK gardens

Most small brown garden birds are one of four: a house sparrow if the bill is thick and conical, a dunnock if it is fine and pointed, a wren if the tail is cocked upright, or a female blackbird if it is much bigger than the rest.

8 of the 30 birds on this site fit. Each one links to its full page, with what separates it from the ones it gets mistaken for.

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  Blackcap

  A grey warbler with a neat cap — black on the male, red-brown on the female. Increasingly spends the winter in UK gardens.

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  Chaffinch

  Still one of Britain's commonest birds, but quietly falling away. Pink-breasted male, bold white shoulder flash, a rattling downhill song.

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  Dunnock

  The grey bird shuffling under the hedge. Not a sparrow: the bill is fine and pointed, and it is nearly always alone.

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  Goldfinch

  Red face, gold wing bar, tinkling call. A specialist seed-eater that has moved into gardens in enormous numbers over thirty years.

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  Greenfinch

  Red listed since 2021 after a disease outbreak halved it. A heavy olive-green finch with yellow wing flashes and a thick pale bill.

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  House Sparrow

  Red-listed despite topping the Birdwatch. Sparrows nest in colonies, so one box rarely works — put up three, near dense cover.

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  Robin

  The gardener's shadow. Orange-red breast, upright stance, and a fierce territorial streak hidden behind a very tame manner.

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  Wren

  The UK's most numerous breeding bird and still Amber listed. Tiny, russet, tail cocked upright, with a song far too loud for its size.

Not here? Describe what you saw — the identifier ranks every garden bird rather than filtering them out, so it will not hide yours.