I visited Leighton Moss N.R. with my husband on Wednesday 30th September 2015 and took a lot of photographs of the numerous robins around the reserve and although I have this slide show on another thread especially for a forumite friend I thought I would add it to the dedicated Leighton Moss group thread so everyone could enjoy it.
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Regards, Hazel
Even better second time around!
Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos
(One bush does not shelter two Robins)
Zenodotus (3rd Century B.C.)
Next time you visit, buy a bag of 'nibbles' from the reserve shop and you'll find that some of the robins on the reserve will feed from your hand (especially the one who hangs around in the bushes by the grit tray viewing point on the Causeway!). I did this recently and was joined by a little boy; I put some seed in his hand and the look on his face when the robin landed and took some food was utterly priceless. Let's hope it's a memory that stays with him for a long time and spurs him on to be a lifetime RSPB member. I'm a granny now but still have so many happy childhood memories of going birdwatching with my lovely late dad who was a dedicated wildlife watcher! My grandkids have inherited 'the bug' and we need to encourage the next generation(s) to ensure that the RSPB has followers when we've all 'dropped off the twig'
Take another look at the slideshow and you'll see there are several photos of Robins feeding from Mike's hand. Live mealworms were on offer. A guaranteed winner with any Robin!
I agree Gillian, its good to get youngsters involved in both enjoying and appreciating all that nature/wildlife has to offer from an early age and its nice your Dad also introduced you to the wonders of bird watching as you were growing up.
As for the nibbles, as MC says, I have a few photos in the slide show which show the robins taking live mealworms from my husband's hand; we also took half a kilo of berry suet pellets/sunflower hearts/kibbled peanuts/whole peanuts/mixed seed ............and it all got consumed by the eager recipients. A robin perched on our hand for over a minute taking three mealworms and dropping a forth on the floor which it later retrieved. We almost had to ask for our hand back lol We enountered another robin that also perched and ate 3 mealworms without leaving our hand.
As you missed the hand feeding photos on the slide show.....this is a new photo for you.....
Lovely
That photo was meant to be the one that went into the slide show instead of the other !
This is a gorgeous selection of photos - thanks for making the video and sharing if Hazel. We took out a guided walk on Sunday where a little boy had the robin coming to his hand, it made his day. Like you all say, he will hopefully remember that forever and have a lifelong love of nature.
Best wishes,
Annabel
Thank you for sharing that lovely selection of some great photographs.
I particularly liked the ones where the robin was looking at the mealworms inside the container as if trying to figure out how to get at them!
Fantastic.
I must get back up there soon. Not been for a few months...
Oh yes, and I think that having them as a slideshow is really great as well. Somehow it makes them even nicer :¬)
Jeff
Hi Annabel & Jeff, many thanks for your kind comments which are very much appreciated and glad you enjoyed the photo slide show; leighton moss is a wonderful reserve and no doubt we will be back again very soon :)