‘When the red, red robin goes bob, bob, bobbin’ along’
an oriental magpie robin as its national bird. Characteristics Only about 13 centimetres long, weighing 18 grams and with a wingspan of 20 centimetres, its reddish-orange breast is a sight to behold. It lives mostly on insects, spiders, and juicy worms, especially if the soil is turned. Nesting in sheltered spots and favouring my winter jasmine wall-climbing plant, or in my sheds, what I have perceived, as baby thrushes hopping around in my garden, have in fact been baby robins. It is because of the baby bird’s speckled brown and white chest that I have been confused. Sadly, fledgling robins have a short life expectancy but once reaching maturity they may live to 10 years or more, depending upon the warmth of European winters! Their agility in hopping around in snow bears testimony to their desire for survival.
An old English nursery rhyme runs, “The north wind does blow and we shall have snow, and what will the robin do then, poor thing?” Well, my robins have survived many winters in my garden for, with the occasional winter snowfall, I have fed them well. Breeding To attract females during the breeding season, the cock robin awakes just before the sun arises in the morning and will continue his singing throughout the day until just after the sun goes down. What joy to hear his trills as it is a signal of Spring-time and the birth of new wildlife.
Both male and female robins work extremely hard in gathering nest building materials of leaves, moss, animal-hair and feathers. They literally feather their own nests before the hen deposits her eggs. She usually lays two clutches of five eggs from Spring-time, in late March to early summer, with their young venturing out of the nest within four to six weeks of hatching. Most popular British bird I have always thought the smallest bird, in folklore known as ‘Jenny’ wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) was the public’s most popular bird. This minute bird, half the size of a robin, once appeared on farthings (quarter of a British penny coin) until they were withdrawn from our currency. Through relatively recent public opinion polls, the robin is now the official national bird in Britain.
Steeped in folklore, there are records of robins and wrens as enemies. In my garden, both birds co-exist happily with the robins nesting in my climbing plants just beneath my crumbling slate, holefilled wall where the wrens nest. It was only a few summers ago when a fledgling wren flew out of its nest and rested on my bald head, much to the amusement of my family. Robins, however, are very territorial and I have seen them drive off much larger birds than themselves. Postscript If you receive a Christmas card from the UK with a robin postal stamp on it then treasure it. In Victorian times, only just 150 years ago, postmen in the UK were known as ‘Robins’. Why? They wore red jackets!
This winter season in the UK snow has already capped high mountains in the northern parts of Scotland and will fall on northern areas of England and Wales if this (allegedly weak) La Nina effect occurs. Hopefully, in my peninsular part of southwest England, I will escape snow at Christmas, despite my grandchildren’s pleas for a ‘White Christmas’ when they can sledge on steep hillslopes. My ambition, this Christmastide, is to take my Holly out for walks with ‘our’ robin, who will be bob, bob, bobbing along and to feed this small bird from my hand.
Christmastide, after all, is about giving rather than receiving. If we had animals to represent our year of birth in a British Calendar, as Malaysian Chinese have in their Lunar Calendar, then I would hope that a Robin would be there. As 2018 is just around the corner, in my year of The Dog, my ageing dog and I will enjoy our family Christmas along with our outdoor feathered friends. A very happy and peaceful Christmas holiday to you all.