A series following the 72 British mini-seasons of Nature’s Calendar by Kiera Chapman, Lulah Ellender, Rowan Jaines and Rebecca Warren. 

Dear Readers, although my garden is quieter in winter than in spring, it’s not completely lacking in bird song. Robins are unusual amongst British birds because they hold both autumn/winter and spring territories. In the winter, the territories are smaller, and in many cases male and female robins hold adjoining ‘patches’, which are amalgamated when the warmer weather comes, and testosterone levels rise. Nonetheless, the robin in my garden was most indignant when a small flock of sparrows visited today, and s/he (for it is impossible to tell) tried to see the whole gang of them off. Sparrows are not so easily distracted however, and the robin left sitting indignantly in the climbing hydrangea while the sparrows gave the gutters a good going-over.

One way that robins defend their territories from other robins is by singing. Have a listen to this. You can see the bird listening out for another robin and then responding. On some winter days, if you listen carefully, you can hear how you are walking out of one territory into another as you travel along. Such energy!

In her piece on robins in ‘Nature’s Calendar’, Kiera Chapman points out that the breast of the robin is not really red, but is closer to orange. Alas, the word for ‘orange’ arrived with orange trees in the late fifteenth century (from the Sanskrit ‘naranga‘) – before that, things that we would now describe as orange in colour were designated as red or yellow. So it was with Robin Redbreast. I guess that Robin Orange-breast doesn’t have quite the same satisfyingly alliterative quality.

And so, if you’re up early on these dark mornings and hear someone singing, chances are that it’s a robin. And there’s something about it that always makes me feel less grumpy at getting up on a cold and frosty morning. I think I might buy the robins some Christmas mealworms. After all, at this time of year they need all the help that they can get.