Look after the robin

Yesterday, we carried an article on the robin and today we look at ways in which you can help this cheery little bird.

Simply putting out a bird bath or a dish of water is a great start, taking care to make sure during the cold months this is prevented from freezing over. The robin will happily eat a range of seeds, suet or fat balls and is particularly fond of mealworms, which are packed with moisture and protein. You can also provide fruit, or morsels of fat such as crumbled cheese or buggy nibbles.

Piles of logs and leaf litter will house plenty of spiders and other small animals that robins can find during the winter. Ivy is also great, providing shelter and invertebrate food during winter and spaces for robins to nest in spring.

An open-fronted nestbox placed on a wall, shed or tree will give them somewhere to nest and raise their young during the spring and summer and potentially somewhere to roost in during the winter. Make sure you place the box out of the wind and rain, usually a north-easterly direction is best. Allow a clear flight path to the box but make sure it isn’t in a too obvious place where it can easily be found by predators or disturbed by people. Robins will also nest in hedges so planting with wildlife in mind is also extremely beneficial.

Robins are well known for making nests in a variety of places, such as old kettles, old watering cans and shelves in sheds. Recorded nest sites include plant pots, a pigeonhole in a desk, and even in the engine of a Second World War plane.