A little bird with a very big heart

CONTRARY to popular belief, the wren is not our smallest bird.

The ‘king of the birds’ weighs 10 grams, but there’s another little songster only half as heavy; the goldcrest weighs the same as a 20-cent coin.

However, this does not make it a contender for the world lightweight title; the bee hummingbird of Cuba doesn’t even weigh two grams. Being small can be a problem in winter; goldcrest numbers fall drastically during cold spells, like the one we’re experiencing at present. Most warblers avoid hard weather by spending the winter abroad, but Irish goldcrests stay put and brazen it out.