Robin's Winter Song

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Robins are real water lovers; often found near bodies of water and in humid places. If you don’t want to install a pond in your garden right away, however, set out a bird bath. Your garden robins will be happy for it and are sure to splash around in the warmer months. One thing for certain is that there will be a reason – small birds are not going to expend vast amounts of energy flying hundreds of miles on a whim. It goes to show that we have lots to learn when it comes to bird behaviour, even for our most familiar species. Robins are particularly associated with Christmas. Investigate with the children the various ways that the robin is depicted at Christmas: on cards, calendars, wrapping paper and decorations. Make a display of these. Make a robin finger puppet for your child to hold while you re read the story. Encourage them to join in with what the robin says and thinks – eg “ What are you doing?” , “Winter must be very scary!” Re-tell the story If the birds are not looking to attract a mate to their territory, why are they expending energy in defending one? The obvious answer that comes to mind is food. The theory goes that the bird is defending a territory that will be able to provide it with sufficient food to see it through the non-breeding season. It sounds entirely plausible, but unfortunately it isn’t the case.

In fact, the word ‘move’ doesn’t really do this justice; a better word would be migrate. We don’t tend to think of our humble Robin as a migratory bird, but in the east of its range it is a true migrant, with Scandinavian, eastern European and Russian birds all leaving their breeding areas for milder winter ones. Most of our breeding Robins are sedentary in nature, although some will disperse to breed in a new area. Some individuals appear to undertake migratory movements and many Robins from colder countries like Scandinavia and Finland will pass through Britain in the autumn en route to Iberia or North Africa. Some of these birds will remain in Britain for the winter. But, there seems to have been an earlier association between the bird and the Christmas period, and Christianity more generally. Robin’s Winter Song is a beautifully illustrated picture book that is the perfect read for this time of year. Autumn is almost over and winter is coming. But what exactly is winter? Before you start reading talk about the cover image together. Has your child seen a robin in a garden or park? Read the story aloud to your child pausing to talk about the illustrations and what is happening when your child wants to. Re readBut there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to what the female British Robin does in the late autumn; some stay where they are, some move short distances and others migrate to Europe, going as far as southern Spain. It won’t be long before the species that won last year’s Vote for Britain’s National Bird will be staring at you from the corner of your living-room. The Robin, quite possibly hopping around in the sort of snowfall we rarely see in December, and maybe even sporting a Santa hat, will be the star of a good many of the Christmas cards that you receive.

Robins are happy to use bird boxes, but they do prefer large entrances–about 10 centimetres high. Spotted flycatchers, wagtails and wrens will also make use of a birdhouse with such a large opening. You can find more tips on the materials and dimensions for your birdhouse, and how best to clean it in our article on building your own bird box. How can I support robins even more? One fable holds that when the baby Jesus was in his manger, the fire lit to keep him warm blazed up very strongly. A brown bird placed himself between the fire and Jesus, fluffed out his feathers, but got its breast scorched by the fire, and the Robin was the result. Those that head for some winter sun in Europe, then return to their breeding areas by the beginning of March.

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The illustrations look like they're a mixture of drawing and some sort of collage, either paper or fabric (I'm not really sure). They're really cute, in any case. There are nice little touches with leaves, pine needles, and (eventually) crocuses embellishing the illustrations, which helps show the passage of the seasons.