Robins

Hi Graham,

Yes they are here all year round although their presence is a little more patchy in the far north of Scotland.

They activley seek out human prescence in the hope of picking up scraps of food. Try them with some meal worms and you may get closer than you think.

Graham

Hello Graham,  I'm also new to this Birdwatching Lark,

 the Robin is indeed an all year round resident, and continues to sing in the wintertime, which I think is perhaps the only bird that does.  Something to do with Streetlights.

I'm sure a more knowledgeable person will be along shortly to confirm or deny that.

it generally is the only one  to sing but its just letting other know thats its there.    Think its  their territorial song rather than street lights and apparently sounds quite different from its Spring song?( I've been walking with common birdsong on my Ipod ) : )

I'd imagine that the reason for robins singing near lit streetlights is the change in light levels which triggers a natural urge in the birds to sing and proclaim their territory.

Another endearing quality of robins is the way they keep gardeners company by staying close in hope of catching a worm.

Birds sing for two main reasons: to attract a mate and to defend their territories. The breeding season for most birds is generally between March and September so it is unlikely that song is being used for this reason outside of these times. Also, outside of the breeding season most birds do not need to defend their territories as vigorously as they would during it. This is why we don't hear the dawn chorus after September. However, robins are one of few bird species that do defend their territories all year round.

Robins are insectivorous birds that are well adapted to foraging in dim light, and even continue to feed under artificial light well into the night. It is one of the earliest birds to start the dawn chorus and one of the last to stop singing at night. With this tendency to be active at low light, robins can be easily triggered into full song by a streetlight or any kind of floodlighting. Since robins keep territories all year round, they also sing all round the year. This has resulted in dozens of reports of nightingales singing in the middle of a winter’s night and other equally unlikely times and places, which have all turned out to be robins. In fact, the robin is the most common night-time songster in Britain’s towns and gardens.

Hi LRB

I recall, a while back, there was a questionaire regarding the dawn chorus on the lines of "in your area which bird starts it and how many birds can you identify". It absolutely amazed me that anyone was able to answer it as, in spring, my resident male chaffinch is by far the noisiest and he maintains the volume all day and into late evening. Moreover, it is non-stop. He's the only bird I have even seen who can eat while continuing with a very loud doo-ey doo-ey doo-ey, dweeb dweeb dweeb at the same time!

Squirrel 

I love the Robins although they can be very agressive little birds to other robins.  I remember my Grandfather had one that became very tame who he called "Bob" he use to sit on his doorstep and Bob use to appear and feed off his hand, and cock his head when my Grandfather spoke to him - lovely.