Who doesn’t like the robin

There are probably very few people who don’t enjoy the sight of the Robin Redbreast and it’s fair to say that it’s one of my favourite birds.

I recently wrote a blog post Little Robin Redbreast and I did mention in that post that although the robin is very much associated with Christmas he is in fact an all year round bird.

Anyone who is a regular walker through the woods and the forests will almost certainly see the robins throughout the year.

Pretty as a picture

Although an all year round bird and a real favourite there are few images as richly associated with Christmas as a robin set against a cold and snowy background.

The recent robin blog post I mentioned earlier, and that you can see here, featured pictures of the robin in anything but a snowy background. Happily (from a photography perspective) the snow arrived this week and I was able to take some ‘classic’ winter robin pictures – along with a few other snowy scenes from along one of my regular waking routes in the Tame Valley.

Robin Redbreast by William Allingham

Good-bye, good-bye to Summer!
For Summer’s nearly done;
The garden smiling faintly,
Cool breezes in the sun;
Our Thrushes now are silent,
Our Swallows flown away, —
But Robin’s here, in coat of brown,
With ruddy breast-knot gay.
Robin, Robin Redbreast,
O Robin dear!
Robin singing sweetly
In the falling of the year.

Bright yellow, red, and orange,
The leaves come down in hosts;
The trees are Indian Princes,
But soon they’ll turn to Ghosts;
The scanty pears and apples
Hang russet on the bough,
It’s Autumn, Autumn, Autumn late,
’Twill soon be Winter now.
Robin, Robin Redbreast,
O Robin dear!
And welaway! my Robin,
For pinching times are near.

The fireside for the Cricket,
The wheatstack for the Mouse,
When trembling night-winds whistle
And moan all round the house;
The frosty ways like iron,
The branches plumed with snow, —
Alas! in Winter, dead and dark,
Where can poor Robin go?
Robin, Robin Redbreast,
O Robin dear!
And a crumb of bread for Robin,
His little heart to cheer. 

Photo gallery

Clicking on any of the pictures below will open a scrollable gallery. You can find more robin pictures over at my wives blog – click this link to view