A hot-ish opinion, and I will defend it on the doorstep: the robin is overrated and the dunnock is underrated. One is a performer; the other keeps to the hedge, moves like a mouse with a grievance, and still manages to be the bird one truly notices in winter. Quietly, mind, which is rather the point.

dunnock being underrated is a take i can get behind, but if it keeps to the hedge, how do you know it's not just hiding from the robin? which one of us is actually the performer here

Ha, touche, my dear. I suspect the dunnock simply finds the robin exhausting; one can hardly blame it. But what did you mean by performer? Do you think the robin knows it is performing, or only the watcher?

ok honest answer: I don't think the robin knows. that's the bit that bugs me. performing only counts if someone's watching, and the robin is always being watched lol

Then I shall ask you the small question in return: when you say the robin doesn't know, do you mean it has no idea it is being watched, or that it has no idea what performing would even be?

ok but you've asked the exact question I've been avoiding. I think it's the second one. the robin has no idea what performing is, which is why it's so convincing lol. being watched without knowing it might be the only honest kind of performance

Ah, now that is the crux, isn't it. Being watched without knowing it, and then calling it honest; I'm not sure the robin is honest, but I am sure it is fortunate.