Robins.

To celebrate my new sound effect....can you here the little robins singing?.....I thought I would talk about these cute little characters.

They are endearing little birds with their cocky little attitudes and their spindly little legs.

I forgot that I had these photos...we took them in Devon earlier this year. I don't know quite how we managed it as they are notoriously hard to catch....very nervous...very quick to fly off the minute we raise the camera.

They will nest in any number of unlikely spots...for example...barbeque's, bristles of upturned brooms, watering cans, hats and even bicycle handlebars!

We have robins in our garden and I was absolutely thrilled when we discovered that they were nesting in a small fir tree. We watched for weeks as they built the nest, then after the event, flitted back and forth feeding their young.

It was a bit confusing at first as I thought it may have been a gay marriage. Both birds seem to be male...however after consulting Wikipedia I found out that both the male and female are identical, both sporting bright orange/red chests...mystery solved.

I waited and waited for the appearance of the young robins learning to fly, but never in fact saw them. Apparently, being the super clever birds that they are, they merely fly off and don't come back to the nest. They will then stay in the neighborhood improving their flying skills before taking off into the wild.

Robins are extremely territorial and will aggressively defend their turf. A portion of their mortality rate is related to the fact that they will fight to the death. The female, after rearing her family, will move away whilst the male will guard his territory all year round. In fact the robin is one of the only birds to be heard singing on Christmas day.

They are the gardener's friend, known to hang around awaiting upturned worms. In folklore they are highly regarded and may never be harmed.

Tom, an elderly gentleman that lives in our village, told me that as a young boy he would often steal birds eggs out of nests (a common children's practice back then), but he knew never to touch a robin's egg!

In 1960 the robin was crowned the U.K.'s national bird!