While the majority of birds mainly serenade us in spring, the robin is rare in singing for most of the year. During the winter freeze, the UK's second commonest bird is easy to spot and hear – perched on its favourite branch, portly red belly puffed out, it repeatedly fills the icy air with melodic song.
Some sensible robins (mostly females, which look identical to the males) head to France for the winter, but the majority stay, keeping us company through the bleakest months. Their perky character makes them endearing: excitedly tail bobbing when they find food and following us around the garden.
Fond of people and food, some birds (especially crows, blackbirds, and robins) can be somewhat tamed, as most wildlife-appreciative gardeners will attest. Learning that this human pauses its weeding every so often to fling an earthworm in my direction, a robin may gradually come closer and closer until the bonding point is reached where it will sit on your fork and give you a look that says 'chuck us a worm'. This experience is documented by gardener Tony Putman in his gorgeous new book Bob the Robin (£10.99, Gaia). For over three years, Bob kept him company while he worked; he became trusting enough to take food from his hand and even let Tony stroke him. It is possible that, being far more solitary than many birds, these bolshy songsters enjoy a closeness with humans – particularly in winter, when they roost alone.
There are lots of ways to entice them into the garden and to help them survive the coldest season.
What is the best food for robins in winter?
Although there are records of robins living for several years, most don't live longer than two years and many don't make it through their first winter. Like most small birds, robins aren't able to lay down fat reserves as well as we do and thus must spend chilly days almost constantly looking for things to eat. As long as we look after birds' health by regularly cleaning our feeders, we can help by putting out high-energy fatty foods in winter, and robins particular enjoy suet pellets. Avoid very salty fatty foods (go for low-salt cheese, such as Emmental). Robins also adore mealworms, which should be soaked in water overnight to soften before being put out for them; alternatively, the RSPB offers suet pellets made with mealworms. Robins love mealworms so much that, if you have patience, you can get them to take them from the palm of your hand.
What are the best nest boxes for robins?
Open-fronted nest boxes attract robins and wrens. They ought to be positioned no higher than 2 metres above the ground. Attach the box to something solid that is densely coated in leaves, such as the trunk of a holly tree (for which a wooden box would work best) or a wall thickly clad with ivy.
However, don't feel you have to stick with convention because the robins certainly don't. The records of places that people have found robins' nests is remarkable: from an unmade bed to a gardener's coat pocket. They will squat in letterboxes and love all manner of things left in accessible sheds: retired boots, toolboxes, and empty flower pots. If you see a cosy-looking copper kettle at a vintage shop and install it in your hedge, a robin will probably move in.
Where there aren't any boxes or old kettles available, robins will build their own nests, and you can help them by leaving their preferred building materials lying around in winter and early spring: don't collect leaves in borders, let a little moss develop in the lawn, and, if you spot some sheep's wool on a walk, scoop it up and deposit it in the garden.
What are the best plants for robins?
Evergreens offers year-round shelter and nesting sites. Spiky evergreens (such as holly) shield them from predators, while evergreen climbers with dense layers of leaves (such as ivy) offer safety by hiding them. The two festive evergreens, holly and ivy, also provide robins and other birds with a wealth of berries in winter.
Which berries do robins eat?
Robins aren't fruit fanatics in the way that blackbirds and song thrushes are. But in autumn and winter, when insects are scarce, they seek out the nutrient-rich berries of many plants, including elder, deciduous spindle (for instance, Euonymus alatus 'Compactus'), guelder rose (such as Viburnum opulus 'Compactum'), and crab apples (such as Malus x robusta 'Red Sentinel', which often carries its fruit well into winter).
What is the best way to attract robins?
Robins' favourite food is insects, so make some simple changes to increase the amount of them in your garden. Firstly, stop using pesticides and don't be too neat: let the grass grow long in places, don't cut everything back hard, and leave seedheads (which provide habitat for insects) over winter. Robins love beetles, so create habitat for them by stacking piles of logs around the garden and, when choosing a garden boundary, consider a dry-stone wall. A mixed hedge is another great boundary for robins, especially if it has hawthorn in it, which offers protective thorns, nutritious berries, and has a high insect count. If you have room for a tree, a willow is capable of supporting 266 insects and a silver birch can have an insect count of 229 species. Robins produce 1 to 3 broods a year and feed chicks 1,000 bits of food each day, including worms, spiders, and caterpillars. Research shows that using organic compost and disturbing soil less (try the no-dig method) increases worm numbers, spiders love log piles, and we can encourage caterpillars via naturalistic gardening.
What are the best feeders for robins?
Unlike the gymnastic blue tits, robins prefer to stand up when feeding. Therefore, they're happiest taking food from hanging flat feeders and bird tables (covered tables are best to give some defence against sparrowhawks). They also feed on the ground, and flinging a handful of food onto the lawn in a different place each day is preferable to having a low ground-feeding table in one place because it will attract predators. In the same vein, robins feel safer going to suspended water stations to avoid cats, and providing fresh water daily helps them in icy weather.
