For the love of robins
These fellas aren’t just for Xmas!
Little Simon came to see me today,’ I told my wife Marilyn. ‘He’s such a handsome boy.’
I knew she’d have loved him. If only she were still here to meet Simon – the little robin redbreast who’d become my special friend.
But, sadly, my beloved wife of 38 years had passed away 10 years earlier in 2005, having been diagnosed with lupus, which attacked her immune system, lungs and heart.
I’d visit her grave every fortnight, tell her all my news.
In the first three years after she’d died, I’d tell her how much I missed her, about my work as a cabinet maker.
Then, in 2008, I’d retired and suddenly felt lost. I needed a new hobby to keep me occupied.
So I bought myself a camera and my daughter Rita, 45, gave me her old computer.
I started taking photos of birds, butterflies and insects.
‘You’d really like them,’ I told Marilyn. She’d always been a nature lover.
Every day, I’d upload a new picture onto a photo-sharing website called Blipfoto.
Thousands of people around the world got to see them.
Then, sitting on the bench at my local park one spring afternoon in 2012, I’d spotted a robin hiding underneath.
He seemed shy and scared, so I took a mealworm from a packet I carried with me to feed the birds, and held it out for him. He hopped over and took it. Incredibly, a few more robins scurried over to be fed.
And that was the start of my friendship with the robins.
I called my first friend – the shy one – Max.
Robins don’t usually live for more than a couple of years, so Max didn’t stick around for long. But he made it onto Springwatch on the BBC.
I was so excited to see a photo I’d taken of him on the telly!
I met my favourite, Simon, in 2015. He trusted me so much I’d even put mealworms in my mouth for him to take!
Simon and his girlfriend Susie became my firm friends.
But, feeding Simon one day, I noticed he was looking a bit tatty.
Then, before he flew off, he stopped and looked at me. It felt as if he was saying goodbye. Don’t be silly, I told myself.
But when I went to our bench the next day, Simon was nowhere to be seen. My eyes filled with tears. I never did see my old friend again. But that didn’t stop me making friends with other little robins, like Monty and Ruby. They’d go off to their nest together in one of the trees – and, before long, they had a fine brood of redbreast chicks. I’ve had a lot of feathered friends over the years. When I get to the park, I whistle a particular tune, and they know I’m there. In the last three years, there hasn’t been a day when I’ve not visited my little redbreasts. They’re a special part of my life now, give me a sense of purpose. And the daily walk to and from the park keeps me healthy. I’m so happy I’ve found something that brings me so much joy. I just wish Marilyn could see the robins. She adored birds, had kept a budgie called Snowy. But I feel that she’s still with me. They say every time you see a robin, it’s a loved one watching over you. I believe that my beautiful Marilyn is beside me on the park bench every day.
It was the start of my special friendship