Robins in my garden

[lynbrown]

Over the winter, i fed birds in my garden, especailly two lovely robins. Now the weather is better, I havent seen them for a while, although the same blackbirds still visit. Have the robins moved away or are they finding enough food in the ground? Will I see them again next winter?

[brenda]

Think they will be back,I have just 1 robin and he seems to return each winter . It may not be the same one but he is very tame.

[rowanwitch]

Can't persuade mine to leave it follows me round the garden begging for mealworms

[jno]

same here. There's probably more food around. Robins are territorial; you'll usually see only one, perhaps with a mate.

[TheOtherHalf]

We usually get a robin in winter but never during the summer. We have loads of other birds thought which are costing a fortune. We get through about 4 fatballs each day and bits of cheese etc. I think they must be telling all their mates that theres a feast here. its lovely to watch them out of the window

[what..the?]

same here in the summer the tits come in and the house martins, however I cannot remember the robins ever leaving last summer?? Maybe I just have a bad memory.

[carlton23]

I have a resident Robin that seems to be with us 24/7 ..365/12 always on the scrounge for tit bits.

[lslowry]

The life span of a robin is just over a year Lynbrown,so the chances of seeing them again is quite slim unfortunately.

[Buenchico]

Nobody seems to have mentioned that Robins are a migratory species! Their breeding grounds are in Scandinavia (and elsewhere in Northern Europe) but when food becomes scarce in those areas (because of snow and ice) they migrate to places like the UK.

Well, that's what the text books say, anyway. But some robins (like the one I saw in Hyde Park recently) don't seem to have read the books!
;-)

Chris

[Buenchico]

Lslowry's post about the average life span of a robin is statistically correct (because the vast majority of Robin's don't survive for more than a few months), but once a Robin has become one of the few to survive for a year or so it's chances of living quite a bit longer are actually quite good. The current record age for a European robin is 17 years 3 months (and since that robin was killed by a man it's possible that it might have lived for quite a bit longer).

Chris

[jno]

so just another scrounging immigrant taking food that should go to our native birds, Chris? David Cameron ought to do something.

[Prudie]

Chris i would beg to differ - Robins are indigenous to the UK although some might travel about and they are found in other parts of Europe.

[AlBags]

I have a friendly Robin that is always around when I'm working outside in certain area of the village. It looks really old .. like a Grandpa Robin. It is the only one I have come across that comes as close as i metre, and just sits there waiting for food (and my chit-chat of course)

[JMR27]

I was surprised when I saw lslowry's post...I didn't realise robins had such a hard time. There was one in our garden today.

[ethandron]

according to my collins bird guide:
breeds in woodland, gardens, parks, forest edge, generally with some dense vegetation and open areas; in n. europe prefers spruce forest with some deciduous element, also mixed forest. migratory in n. europe.

[jno]

it's not easy being red, JMR