Sunbathing dunnock

Incubating eggs on a hot day can be exhausting work, and itchy too if your feathers are full of small parasites. This dunnock has been sunbathing every afternoon lately on this old concrete slab in the garden, using the sun's rays to rid itself of tormenting feather parasites.

While it sits there it rolls from side to side, exposing each side of its chest to the sun's rays, occasionally lifting a wing too. During the whole process it sometimes settles down and goes into a trance-like state.

During its sunbathing sessions it doesn't tolerate competitors for its prime position in the sun.

Eventually, after about ten minutes, it struggles back to its feet, panting in the heat, then goes into a long session of preening to put its plumage back in shape. 

I often see blackbirds do something similar in the garden, but this is the first time I've watched dunnocks engaged in this kind of behaviour. Click here for an account of similar behaviour in blackbirds.