A Robin has been playing hide and seek with me for the past few weeks. As it has been nearing the end of its moult I have been seeing a bit more of it. I only got my first decent sighting of it today. I'd say it's a second year bird (it isn't HTR or Mrs HTR). His song is higher pitched and significantly different from previous residents. I have also heard plenty of twarbling coming from the holly tree and it does not include the usual BT, GT and Goldfinch phrases that are typical of 'my' Robins. I suspect that this is not a local bird. Hopefully it will choose to stay. There was a good deal of territorial call and reply singing going on this morning with the Robin on the far side of the school playground, so that's a good start. These photos were taken through the (dirty) kitchen window.
Will HTR just let the newbie move in with nothing more than a bit of noise … and have you got any initials left to use for a new name???
I'm not entirely sure where HTR is at present. The Robin on the far side of the school playground might have been him. It might be that he has (been) moved on or has been predated. The 'bit of noise' is the main weapon in territorial disputes and the two combatants might not even see one another. I will keep a close watch on proceedings and see what happens.
Just catching up again with your latest post Paul and nice to hear that you have a new robin in your garden, looks like it might come out of the bushes more now that it sees treats on offer and bathing facilities ! It's amazing how many different sounds the robins have and the pitch variation. At the moment "our" robins are twittering fairly quietly almost to let each other know they are there ! I'm sure the volume will increase once we head into winter lol