Talkback: Robins

Evening folks Christmas greetings, the old chap on the next plot to me has a robin he can feed meal worms by hand.The little bird is wary of me only coming to 5 or 6 feet to feed.

Some Robins are much braver than others. We consider ourselves fortunate to have had Robins nesting either in, or very close to our garden for the last 30 years. A few years ago we had a particularly chirpy chap to whom we would feed tiny cubes of cheese each day. If he considered we were ignoring him, he would come in the patio doors and fly around the kitchen until he got our attention, then fly out and wait for his daily treat. Later on in the summer all we had to do was stand at the same doors and tap a knife on the edge of the cheese plate, to watch this delightful little flash of olive cream and red come hurtling up the garden. He is sadly no longer with us, but will always be remembered with great fondness

Richard we haven't one card this year with a Robin on it,There has been quite alot of bird activity in the garden mostly  magpies and crows,We do get two Robins under the bushes in the remains of the leaf litter and a blackbird they seam to get on ok,I had a squirrel hanging from the lower branches of the frisia eating the bulbs that have pushed there way to the surface,If the dogs had seen it they would have been down the garden like a rocket,Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dogs, it seems, are this year's Christmas card favourites. No idea why that should be since we are not dog people, and nor are most of our friends. Even reindeer were beaten into third place by bears. As suspected penguins beat robins. In fact, most things beat robins, since we only had one robin card — equal last, along with owl, wolf, mouse and donkey. I disqualified the frog after someone pointed out that I had accidentally pinned up an old amphibian-centred birthday card that I'd found fallen down the back of the sofa.

I love Robins, they become very friendly, and quite tame. I know they are territorial, and are quite aggressive to each other, but in winter it seems they put all that behind them when they are hungry, because I had 7 on the lawn the other day, and as long as they didn't get too close to each other they completely ignored each other, there was the odd scrap, but they where far to interested in filling their belly for it to be serious. Not doubt this acceptance of each other will disappear when breeding time approaches! It is snowing today where I live, (N.E.Scotland) so the garden has been full of hungry birds all day, and all types, even had the greater spotted woodpecker and lots of long tailed tits, that only seem to appear when its really cold.

We have a breeding pair every year, resident in the garden.  As soon as I go out, there they are, waiting for their food, and almost tame.  I've always called them 'Bobby Beans' regardless of gender!  I'd heard that they first appeared on Christmas cards when the introduction of halfpenny postage stamps made it cheap and easy for anyone to send greetings to their family and friends - postmen wore red jackets and were nicknamed Robin Redbreasts, so the association of the bird with the man who delivered the Christmas greetings became fixed.  So many robin-cards show one perched on a red postbox, it seems as likely a tale as any other!