Robin

The European robin (Erithacus rubecula) is a very different bird from the American robin (Turdus migratorius), as they have little in common apart from the orange-red breast that typifies both species. In the United Kingdom, the robin is probably the bird that most people can identify, not least because it appears on a high percentage of Christmas cards! Its familiarity is doubtless the reason why the robin was chosen as “Britain’s national bird” as long ago as 1960. This was confirmed in a poll in 2015, although the status is still unofficial.

The robin is familiar to anyone who has a garden, especially if they cultivate it, because there will usually be one on hand to help itself to any worms that the gardener may dig up. They can become quite tame, in that they get to know their “own” people because they are present summer and winter, and can even be encouraged to feed from a hand if one is patient enough.

The robin is very territorial, so each town garden usually has its own bird, and a larger garden may have more than one, each keeping to its own section. In the 2008 “Big Garden Birdwatch” survey conducted by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), the average number of robins per garden was 1.26, with robins being reported in 79% of gardens. However, robins are also common in woodland, hedgerows and parks. There are an estimated six million breeding pairs in the United Kingdom.

  

Appearance and behaviour

The robin is 13.5 to 14.5 centimetres (five and a half inches) from beak to tail, fat and neckless, with olive-brown upper parts, a white belly, and the famous orange-red breast and face. There is no difference in appearance between males and females. Young birds have a mottled brown plumage and brown tail, only acquiring their adult colours after the summer moult. The beak is short and pointed. Robins are not great flyers, only making short, jerky flights between their perch to the ground and back. On the ground they hop in a crouched posture, coming upright when pausing, with head to one side and wings drooped. They will often bob their head up and down and flick their wings. They prefer to feed from the ground or bird tables, but will visit hanging feeders, only pausing to grab a seed and fly off again.

The preferred food of robins is insects, worms and seeds, but they will happily take other food that may be left out by householders. During the winter months, especially if there is snow on the ground, such food is very important for them.

The robin is famous for being the only garden bird to sing right through the year, its full song being a delightful mixture of prolonged notes, short warbles and trills. However, towards the autumn the song is less varied and more melancholy in tone. They will even sing at night if there is a street light handy. The robin also has a sharp, repeated “tic-tic-tic” cry, used to warn off enemies, whether cats or other birds.

Breeding

Robins nest on roadside banks, crevices and ledges, laying five to seven eggs any time between mid-March and mid-July. Then can have two or three broods during the season. Outside the breeding season it is very rare to see two robins together, as both males and females will defend their territory aggressively.

No garden is complete without a robin, looking at you with its beady eye and asking where its next meal is coming from.

© John Welford