SEAN MCMENEMY: The wholesome description for Robin is perhaps
slightly misguided and feisty could well be a better
description.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: It's that wonderful time of year again.
The days are short, the air is crisp and the world seems to
glow with celebration and a touch of magic. And if you look
around you'll notice one little bird popping up everywhere.
From wrapping paper to cosy Christmas jumpers, the Robin has
become the true emblem of festive cheer.
But is there more to a Robin than just being a Christmas
mascot?
I'm Ranger Rosie Holdsworth and welcome to the wild tale of why
a Robin is not just for Christmas.
The Robins connection to Christmas goes all the way back
to the Victorian era, around the 1840s, when sending Christmas
cards first became popular.
At the time, postmen wore bright red uniforms and were
affectionately nicknamed Robins on red breasts. Artists soon
picked up on this and began illustrating the birds on the
cards as a playful nod to the postman who delivered them.
The charming image caught on quickly and before long, Robins
featured on all sorts of festive items, cementing their place as
a true Christmas symbol.
But what is it about Robins that's meant they've stayed as
such a Christmas favourite for so long?
SEAN MCMENEMY: The thing with Robins is they're kind of
omnipresent.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Garden wildlife expert and enthusiast
Sean McMenemy.
SEAN MCMENEMY: We're blessed that they are a bird that stays
with us all year round. They're non-migratory, so if they're in
the garden, they'll stay in your garden all year.
And they'll sing through winter as well, which is very unusual
for garden birds.
Most birds really are just singing to sort of set a
territory and attract mates in the springtime, and then as
summer goes on, there's less and less bird song.
And during wintertime, birds then will join into mixed flocks
and fly over considerable distances as well as the
migratory ones.
So the Robin does stand out as a different species. And so, you
know, there's just this light song and pretty colours at an
otherwise grey, miserable time of year.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: It's that image that shines through all
the festive decorations and Christmas adverts this time of
year. The bright red chest, the sweet little face, the cheerful
hops across the frosted grass. You can't help but smile at a
Robin.
But winter itself is a quiet season for our interaction with
nature. We don't linger in the garden and our walks or commutes
are often filled more with a whisper of wind or the patter of
raindrops.
Yet when you hear a Robin's song, clear and bright, it's
hard not to pay attention and enjoy it.
SEAN MCMENEMY: Blackbirds, thrushes, nightingales are all
renowned as our songbirds but never underestimate a Robin!
They've got a rich melodic voice it's just such a cheerful song
that they sing and the more phrases and the more notes that
they can build into their song the more dominant the bird can
appear and also maintain and attract its mate as well.
What they'll also do is they've got this sort of tick sound
which is a sort of slight irritation so it's "feed me a
worm! feed me a worm!" and they've also got a scratchy sort
of alarm call as well.
If you're outside gardening Robins will follow us around and
once they become familiar with you they'll come quite close and
they can actually recognize different individuals within a
family as well so they will know who's who's friendly who does
the gardening and who's likely to feed them so they've got a
number of different calls.
Singing to say, "hey, this is my garden, clear off!" you know, "
hey, this is my garden, isn't it amazing!" you know, "come and
marry me!"
But also they've got different voices to speak to the people in
the garden as well. So they'll talk to us.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And Robin's love our gardens, feasting on
our nuisance insects, marking out their territories and
nesting in unexpected places like your well-worn welly boot.
Knowing that they recognise us and perhaps even exchange a few
conversational notes as we go about our day only adds to their
charm.
But while it's easy to picture ourselves in a gentle Disney
scene chatting side by side with feathered companions among the
roses, do Robins see us the same way?
SEAN MCMENEMY: This little Robin, it follows me around the
garden, it absolutely loves me and really what it's doing is
it's just waiting for a pig to come along because that's really
who helps it out the most you know.
So Robins historically follow the wild boars through the
woodland. Pigs are foragers so they're constantly digging and
scratching and they're looking for roots and tubers which of
course turns out lots and lots of invertebrates and worms and
goodies for Robins.
I always liken the fact that if we're out there with a trowel in
the garden, rootling around in the dirt, the Robin just sees us
as a pig.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: So, although their feelings towards us are
less fairytale scene and more practical, and perhaps not quite
as flattering as we first imagined, the Robin's wholesome
reputation still seems to hold up. But could there be a sharper
edge? a side to Robins we haven't yet seen?
SEAN MCMENEMY: The wholesome description for a Robin is
perhaps slightly misguided and feisty could well be a better
description!
They are notoriously aggressive birds because, again, holding
territory and they will fight to the death.
It's a very rare event, but because of that, they've got
some very strict rules when it comes to sort of challenging one
another.
So first off is is the song, then after that another Robin
challenging it will come in and then they puff themselves up the
red chest is stuck out and they'll strut and they'll sit on
a high branch and they'll say " look how big I am! Look how
tough I am!" while singing.
And if that still doesn't deter another bird they'll then sort
of do these chest bumps they'll jump up at each other and bump
their chests to sort of say "Can you see how powerful I am?"
You know, and only if that fails, they'll then get to
grips.
The fights are ferocious and are dangerous, which is why they
have all of these steps leading up to it. So it really is a last
resort.
No one comes out of a fight, you know, unscathed, shall we say,
to the point where I found some fighting Robins a number of
years ago and I went across and I actually picked them up in my
hand because they were so set on violence to one another that
they didn't even notice me.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: When we picture such sheer aggression
and unbridled rage, our minds tend to go to a bull, not a
Robin. It's hard to imagine something so small being quite
so fierce.
SEAN MCMENEMY: Bulls are probably less violent than
Robins, if I think about it. Traditionally, red will set a
bull off, you know, and it will make it charge.
Well, exactly the same with Robins but one of the defense
systems of it is when the chicks do leave the nest they're all
they don't have the red breast of the adults they're like a
mottled brown so they're quite plain looking so the parents
don't object to them and drive them out before they're ready.
But it's not just a Robin that will set them off if you put a
red coat out or a red flower there's a rosy apple if they see
a reflection of themselves in a window it will be fighting it.
It's burning through an enormous amount of energy. And so, you
know, if you do ever see that happening, it's just remove
whatever it is that's triggering that behaviour in a Robin
because it's really detrimental. So it won't harm itself in the
sense of cuts and bruises, but it will completely exhaust
itself.
They're incredibly industrious birds, but they're small, frail,
and they're with us all year round. And as a result of that,
they do have relatively short lives, but they compensate by
the fact that they are really, really busy breeders. So they're
one of the first birds to breed in the country.
You can find Robins on a nest, you know, late January, February
time if the weather's good. And they'll have two, three, even
potentially four broods during the course of a year.
So short lives, but absolutely wonderful lives because they
make the most of it.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: As the cosy indoor months settle in you
might find yourself wondering how to help your Robin friends
thrive. So what's the best way to ensure that little red bird
keeps happily hopping around your garden?
SEAN MCMENEMY: Quite often you'll see Robins flapping away
and trying to land on you know the tube type bird seed feeders.
That's a distressed hungry Robin.
Because they're natural ground feeders, they've got little thin
legs, if you look closely, little thin toes, and they
haven't got the perching claws that the tree dwellers, the
finches and the tits have.
And so, you know, they try to clasp these feeders and then
most of the time they've got the wings flapping away and they'll
grab a seed and they'll slide off and go away.
So every time you put the bird feeder out, if you have got
Robins, is just scatter a few seeds on the ground for it
rather than in a hanging feeder.
And even better still is if you can get some mealworms, dried
mealworms or live mealworms, because they are through and
through insectivores.
If you can afford some time just to stop and think about what
it's doing and why it's doing it, when it's hopping around and
following you about the garden, just watch it and just see.
And it's just sharing their world occasionally, which is
just so lovely and brings joy.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Although the Robin has inadvertently become
the spirit of Christmas, and it's easy to see why, with that
bright red breast and the cheerful song spreading a little
light even on the greyest of winter days.
But as we've discovered, there's far more to this small garden
companion than festive decorations and Christmas cards.
Robins are bold, sometimes fiercely so, and they're with us
all year round. So perhaps we can appreciate the Robin for
longer than the festive season. Because a Robin is not just for
Christmas.
Thanks for joining me on this wild tale. To hear more
episodes, follow us on your favourite podcast app. And you
can also find us on Instagram, @wildtalesNT. See you next time
and have a lovely Christmas.