MUST MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Pictured among snow-dusted holly berries or on a garden spade or chair, fluffed up against the cold, or nesting in a discarded rusty teapot or battered boot, the robin enjoys iconic status in British popular culture. Especially so at Christmas, when this perky member of the chat family holds a special place in our affections. The barn owl – its closest rival in 2015’s poll to choose a national bird, organised by the ‘Urban Birder’ David Lindo – never really stood a chance. Robin Redbreast romped home.

Familiarity has something to do with it, as does the species’ tameness in the British Isles. (Its appealingly large-eyed face can also melt the hardest heart.) During the last winter, robins were reported from a remarkable 91 per cent of gardens taking part in the BTO Garden BirdWatch project. The most recent results of the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch survey, held every year over the last weekend of January, also produced a strong showing for the robin. A regular fixture in the ‘Top 10’, this bold little character climbed two places to number seven in the 2016 survey, and was seen in gardens in the highest numbers for 20 years.

ROBINS HAVE GRACED CARDS AT CHRISTMAS SINCE THEY WERE FIRST POSTED EN-MASSE IN THE 1860s.”