robin’s betrothal
Our beautiful robins which are members of the thrush family and native to Britain become engaged in January and marry at the end of March. The male presents her with a courtship present, a tiny grub, a love gift to prove his feelings for her. If she accepts his gift the days of engagement are over and the serious work of married life begins.
Nest building now starts in earnest. Robins prefer an open type nest box, an old pan, a discarded teapot or a plant pot, a hole in the wall or any other convenient niche; they have a wide taste in nesting sites which sometimes borders on the eccentric. They naturally nest low to the ground and their nests can be hard to spot.
The robin lays a clutch of between five and six creamy white eggs with reddish brown speckles laid in March, the nesting material being of grass, moss, hair and wool. They will rear two to three nests of young in a good year, their young being light brown in colour with yellow striations on their chests. This helps to camouflage them from predation. The robin’s diet mainly consists of insects, worms and sometimes fruit and berries.
All robins have different breast patterns, the male and female birds looking identical to the untrained eye. Both sexes sing a beautiful melodious winter song. Their song is clear, high and very varied consisting of many sweet notes and twitters. His heart beats at more than 80 beats per minute.
The robin or ‘Red Breast’ is perhaps the best known and best loved of all our native birds, they are friendly and intelligent. Robins are very feisty and will stand tall, up to 5.5 inches and will puff out their red chest to ward off other birds, predators and other robins coming into their territory. However, when two male Robins come into contact with each other, they are just like a pair of red vested prize fighters, full of professional aggression. A solitary bird being strong and silent, a guardian and protector, especially when looking after his family. Robins generally do not flock with others, preferring to remain solitary and heard only when they speak.
He is part of the dawn chorus, singing in the new day. He has kept warm throughout the night by trapping warm air within his feathers. His delicate slender legs are kept relatively warm by the blood circulating from his body. They have evolved a heat exchange system which warms the cold blood returning to the body from the feet, which passes very close to the warm blood returning to the legs so the cold blood is gently warmed before it returns to the heart.
All birds must bathe in winter. This stimulates their preening glands which in turn secretes feather oil and protects them during the cold winter nights. Birds start to replace their feathers in late summer; this process may take several weeks to complete and is known as the moult. This is a very stressful time for all birds. The robin knows that self-medicating by procuring a spider, a wonderful tonic during this stressful time will boost their overall wellbeing. All birds are troubled with feather mites so constant preening must take place to alleviate this constant irritation.
The robin is Britain’s national bird and became so on the 15th December, 1966. Many attempts have been made to introduce the British and the Irish robin to other countries, America, Australia and New Zealand, but all attempts have failed miserably. The robin has long been associated with Christmas and appears on many Christmas cards. This is because Christmas cards were always delivered by postmen wearing red tunics and who affectionately became known as ‘Robins’.
When you have studied these wonderful little birds, you will find that they constantly recur unbidden to the mind.
