Overview
The robin is a very familiar bird for its somewhat cheeky-chappie character. It’s a perky, often tame and approachable bird, and a friend and companion to many a gardener throughout the country. In fact robins are extremely territorial and mainly solitary birds. They are common and widespread in a variety of habitats including woodland, forests, gardens, parks, hedgerows and scrubland. In Britain and Europe the robin is resident all year but migratory over a wide area of this range. Many robins in the north and east of Europe migrate south and west in Autumn. A significant proportion spend winter in Britain alongside our resident ‘British’ robins. The robin you see in your garden during winter months is unlikely to be the same one seen during spring and summer, but is probably passing through the UK from elsewhere in Europe and may well be singing with a German, Dutch or Polish accent! These ‘foreign’ birds return home to north and east Europe in Spring to breed.
Robins nest in a variety of concealed locations in any suitable shady place, such as under tree roots, between rocks, amongst ivy or in an old plant pot or discarded teapot! Robins will sometimes use an open fronted robin-style nestbox if provided. Three to six eggs (light brown with darker brown specks and smudges) are laid in an open cup nest. The robin’s diet is made up of small invertebrates such as snails, worms and insects…yum!
Description
The robin is a plump ‘well-proportioned’ bird with unmistakable bright orange-red breast and face bordered with grey, along with white underparts, olive-brown wings, tail and back. It has a medium length pointed dark bill, perky shortish tail, and long skinny brown legs which tend to give the robin a rather upright alert posture. There are no obvious differences in appearance between the sexes. Everyone is familiar with the European Robin (to give it its full name) and there are no other birds in Britain it could be confused with when in full adult plumage.
- Latin name: Erithacus rubecula
- Call & Song: The main call is a short clean ‘tick‘, either singly or often extended into a rapid series of notes (‘tick-ick-ick-ick’) which is said to be similar to the sound of a car engine cooling down or a watch being wound up. Alarm is a very thin sharp ‘tsiiih‘. A robin’s song is loud, clear, pleasant and melodious, and probably quite familiar to many people even if they don’t realise it!
- Size: 13 – 14cm
In The Garden
The robin is a very abundant species and a common visitor to our gardens in all parts of the country. Many gardeners are used to this friendly and cheeky little bird, especially when he follows us as we work away in the garden in the hope of finding some freshly uncovered invertebrate prey, patiently waiting perched on the handle of an old rusty spade!You can help them out by leaving out fresh water as well as food. They will come for food on birdtables, and is especially partial to mealworms. Find out more about feeding the birds here.
Did You Know?
Did you know that the robin was chosen as Britain’s national bird in 1960?
The robin is famous for being the only garden bird in the UK to be heard singing throughout the year, including winter months. They are also sometimes ‘fooled’ to sing at night near bright streetlights, presumably thinking the sun is rising so it’s time for the dawn chorus!
The first Europeans to settle in North America missed our familiar European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) so much they found a substitute ‘robin’… the so-called American robin (Turdus migratorius) which does have a red breast but is unrelated to the true robin we know and is part of the thrush family, so related to blackbirds.
Want to find out how to attract robins to your garden? Check out our tips on bird food, setting up your bird feeders and making a bird box!