Dougie the Dunnock
This short story was written with my beloved granddaughter Grace, and is part of the upcoming Cuddlewick series of childrens’ stories
Little Gracie Cuddlewick lived in a small cottage in Cosy Down Lane with her Nanna and Grand pappy. One day in spring whilst working in the garden, as all the little birds were busy nest building, flying to and fro with pieces of grass, twigs, moss, string and bits of wool, everything had come alive, all the little feathered friends lived in harmony except for one little fellow whose name was Dougie the Dunnock. All the other birds were so busy that they didn’t notice Dougie all alone, he had no-one. He would regularly visit the Cuddlewick’s garden, and whilst Gracie and her pappy were digging in the vegetable patch Dougie would often settle on the spade. However, Gracie noticed that Dougie looked rather sad, she tried desperately to cheer up their little friend but to no avail, nothing seemed to work on the little fellow’s mood.
Grand pappy noticed that Dougie was always alone, his song low and sweet. “I think I know what’s wrong with Dougie Grace; he just needs a little bit of help and encouragement”. Later that morning as Dougie sat in silence watching the other birds pappy went over to him. “Now listen here Dougie, you are a very handsome little fellow and you’re my favourite amongst all others. You just need some singing lessons. Because you are not brightly coloured you have to sing loud and clear to entice a female and win her heart. You will need to practice every day and sing really loud, as many woodland birds just like you with brown or black feathers need to sing loud and sweet in order to be noticed”.
After several weeks of practicing a female dunnock just happened to be flying by when she heard beautiful singing coming from the hedge next to the shed. She landed close by listening intensely and decided to stay a while, Dougie spotted her, he was so pleased, he stood tall and proud, his eyes full of sparkles, but then she suddenly turned and flew away. Little Dougie’s hopes were dashed, but once again pappy had a little word and told him to get busy nest building right away as he believed she would come back again. “I think she really liked your singing” said Grace, “I know I did”. Pappy told Dougie to go straight away to the kitchen door where nanna Cuddlewick had some warm soft nesting material in her knitting box that she was going to put into the hedge that very day for all the little birds to take. Dougies eyes flashed with excitement as he flew across the garden to the cottage. A beautiful Robin landed close by with his red chest puffed out, saying ‘look at me’ but Dougie paid no attention to the little show off and flew to the kitchen window. Tap, tap, tap he went on the window as he watched nanna bring the soft wool from the box. With his bright eyes dancing little Dougie was to start nest building immediately. He never stopped until he had completed three beautiful nests, one in the ivy, one in the hawthorn hedge and one in the grotto of an old tree, hoping if she came back she would select one of them.
The very next day whilst Dougie sat singing blissfully she returned. Dougie didn’t know that she had been secretly watching him from the bow of a tree nearby and had seen just how hard poor Dougie had been working. She knew exactly where every nest was located and began her inspection straight away. She flew down to the first nest as Dougie watched excitedly. She sat in the nest, turning and nestling down, but left moments later her feathers ruffled. She twittered as she flew past that the nest was rather hard. She then flew to the second nest but sadly it was lumpy and had creepy crawlies living in it. However, when she tried the third nest, she settled a while getting comfortable. She shuffled her wings in approval and cosied down in the soft warm lamb’s wool that Dougie had woven into the lining of the nest from nanna Cuddlewicks knitting box, along with a few tiny sprigs of lavender to ward off any creepy crawlies, the nest smelled divine. As she settled down into the beautiful cosy nest Dougie flew over and perched nearby looking on with pride.
Little Dougie was so relieved, and so too were the Cuddlewicks. “It was Flossy the sheep’s wool that was collected, washed and brushed by nanna that saved the day Pappy” said Grace. “Yes it was” said pappy, “and the lavender we put in it too to ward off any more creepy crawlies”. Mrs. Dunnock later laid five beautiful blue eggs which all hatched together on a beautiful sunny spring morning. Dougie was so happy with his new family; he flew around the gardens letting all his friends know that his new chicks had hatched. Grace and her Pappy went down to the vegetable patch, they needed to get busy digging so that they could gather more grubs and worms to feed Dougie’s young and ever growing family.
All the other birds in the surrounding gardens came to see Dougie’s new family, everyone was so excited, especially the Cuddlewicks. Dougie would now sing his beautiful songs well into the night. He would often perch nearby the Cuddlewicks urging them to feed him, after which he would sing his song of thanks. What a truly remarkable little fellow he is.
