The robin is, without doubt, one of our favourite garden birds. It seems to trust us, staying close when we’re in the garden and even taking food from our hands. It's also become a popular symbol of Christmas, with robins appearing on Christmas cards and decorations.
Celebrate this delightful relationship with our feathered friends, with our expert robin guide, including where robins nest, what they eat and how to attract them to your garden, written by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO):
Do robins migrate?
Most British robins are sedentary, defending their territories year-round, with many females also establishing their own winter territories.
However, a handful head south to winter on the Continent, joining other robins passing through in the autumn on their way from Scandinavia and northern continental Europe.
Interestingly, it has been shown that many migrating robins are faithful to both their summer and winter territories, which may be many hundreds of kilometres apart.
- Wildlife gifts for nature lovers
- How reindeer became part of Christmas
- How to have a sustainable and wildlife-friendly Christmas
Where do robins go in summer?
As most robins don't migrate, they don't really disappear over the summer - they just become a bit less visible. When food is more readily available during the summer, robins are more likely to forage out of sight in the woods rather than coming to your bird table in the garden.
The exception is robins that spend the winter here to escape harsher weather in Russia and elsewhere in northern Europe. These robins migrate back to their breeding grounds in spring.
How long do robins live?
A robin's lifespan is just 13 months on average due to high mortality among robins in their first year. Once they've passed that barrier, they stand a much better chance of surviving for quite a while - the record currently stands at 19 years.
Why do robins have red breasts?
The robin’s red breast is part of what endears it to us, providing a welcome flash of colour on a winter’s day.
But its evolutionary purpose is for a more serious role, with male robins using it to settle territorial disputes, especially during the breeding season.
Do female robins have red breasts?
Yes. Red breasts in female robins don't seem to serve the same competitive purpose as they do in males, but they haven't evolved to look significantly different from each other.
Are robins aggressive?
Robins are very territorial birds and will viciously attack other robins that on their patch. A dispute starts with males singing at each other, trying to get a higher perch in order to show off their breast most effectively. This usually ends the challenge, with one individual deferring to the other.
Sometimes it can escalate to a fight, which can result in injury or death.
In some populations, up to 10% of adult mortality is due to clashes over territory. This is the reason why robins are born without a red breast, and don’t acquire it until their first moult.
What do robins eat?
Robins eat a wide variety of food, including worms, seeds, nuts, suet, invertebrates and fruit. They'll readily come to garden bird tables, especially in winter, and a combination of suet, mealworms and seeds will go down particularly well.
When do robins nest?
If the weather is mild, they can breed as early as January, though it is more usual for them to start in March.
Robins are prolific breeders, often producing between three and five broods a year, each containing four or five eggs.
These broods can overlap, with the male feeding the chicks of one clutch while the female sits on the eggs of the next. This enables the population to bounce back readily from any overwinter population losses.
Robin chicks hatch after being incubated for 13 days and fledge 14 days later.
Where do robins nest?
Robins will nest almost anywhere. Robin nests are usually located about 2m off the ground, within a recess or hollow sheltered by vegetation such as ivy. However, the robin is a particularly adaptable species when it comes to home-building and will also nest on the ground, behind the overhang of a grassy tussock, for instance, or beneath fallen twigs covered by leaf litter.
Over the years monitoring robins and other birds for the BTO Nest Record Scheme, I have come across a number of ground-nesting individuals. Nests must be well concealed to keep their occupants safe from predators, so while we might assume they are less common, it could be that they are just harder to find than those off the ground.
Sometimes, the birds utilise bizarre sites such as old teapots, a pigeonhole in a desk, the engine of a WWII plant, wellington boots and the body of a dead cat.
My personal favourite has to be a robin managing to make its nest on an unmade bed while the bed’s owner was downstairs having breakfast. Thankfully, the robin picked a tolerant person who left the nest undisturbed until the chicks fledged.
Why are robins so tame?
British robins readily associate with gardeners, but elsewhere in Europe they are shy and retiring birds of thick woodland cover.
It may just be because continental robins, the migratory northern populations of which winter around the Mediterranean, have long been exposed to hunting in the southern part of their range, leaving the species particularly skulking in its habits, while in Britain we do not share the tradition of trapping and shooting small birds.
Why other British birds are less confiding than the robin may be linked to feeding behaviour. Robins take most of their food from the ground, including invertebrates disturbed by larger animals. They may view us in a similar way, as they scavenge worms unearthed by the gardener’s spade. This behaviour persists because they have nothing to fear.
Why other British birds are less confiding than the robin may be linked to feeding behaviour. Robins take most of their food from the ground, including invertebrates disturbed by larger animals. They may view us in a similar way, as they scavenge worms unearthed by the gardener’s spade. This behaviour persists because they have nothing to fear.
What does a robin's song sound like?
#BirdSongsBasics - robin and blackbird. © BTO
Are robins active at night?
Robins are one of the first birds to start the dawn chorus and one of the last to stop singing at night, even in the winter when they sing to defend their winter territories.
They are often mistaken for nightingales, despite being one of the most common night-time singers in Britain.
Nocturnal singing can be triggered by loud noises, like thunder or fireworks, a sudden shaking of the roosting tree, or by lights, such as floodlights, coming on.
Various studies have shown that artificial lighting has led to an increase in the nocturnal activities of robins, with many urban robins now singing at night.
Do robins prefer city lights or quiet nights?
Male robins are aggressive and very vocal in defending good-quality territory, and in advertising themselves to potential mates. But how might this be affected by robins living in the city?
Using a taxidermy robin and a record robin song, researchers from Southampton University compared how male robins in a city park defended their territories with those more affected by urban light and noise.
The robins with territories closer to lit paths and noisy roads showed less aggression to the fake robin and song, meaning they are lower down in the dominance hierarchy. The researchers concluded that artificial night-time lighting and more daytime noise resulted in robin territories that were of a lower quality.
“This new study reminded me of one on robins 10 years ago,” said Dr Rupert Marshall, who studies birdsong at Aberystwyth University. “Although artificial light was present in all territories, it was urban noise which predicted the timing of the song, leading them to sing at night to avoid the din.”
Do robins keep feeding overnight?
Robins don’t just sing in the evening, they are also adapted to foraging in low light levels.
Research from the BTO’s Shortest Day Survey suggests that this could be due to the fact that robins have relatively large eyes compared to their body size, meaning that more light can enter the eye.
This adaptation may have led to urban robins feeding under street lights.
It would be interesting to find out if light pollution affects how early they, and other species, feed in the morning, especially during the winter when birds have an urgent requirement to refuel after a cold winter’s night.
When did the robin become associated with Christmas?
The robin became Britain’s bird of Christmas largely because Victorian postmen, who wore red tunic, were known as robin redbreasts. Robins began to appear on Christmas cards and other festive missives as a symbol of the red breasted messenger.
Find out more about birds and Christmas in Stephen Moss' ornithological analysis of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Main image: Robin in spring. © Nataba/Getty
