Why some gardens suit robins better than others

The robin is one of the boldest birds in Britain, and one of the easiest to encourage. It will hop onto a spade handle while you dig, follow a wheelbarrow across the lawn and sit inches from a window watching you fill the feeder. That confidence is not affection in the human sense, but it is curiosity and opportunism, and it means a robin will reward even a small garden if you give it the right things.

Robins are insect eaters by nature. They need damp, workable soil, a good supply of small invertebrates and plenty of low cover to retreat into between meals. A garden with a thick hedge, a patch of ivy on a wall, a shrubby corner and some bare or lightly mulched ground will always beat a neat, dry lawn with nothing else in it.

It also helps to understand that robins are fiercely territorial all year round. A pair may hold the same patch for as long as they live, and both the male and the female sing. In winter they defend separate territories, sometimes singing at night under streetlights; in spring they pair up and nest. The robin singing from your fence in January is very likely the same one that will raise young in your hedge in May.

What to feed robins — and what to skip

Mealworms are the single most reliable offering for robins. They take them from a tray, a ground feeder or a bird table, and they will return again and again once they know the supply is dependable. Offer them little and often rather than in a great heap, as robins tend to take one item at a time and fly off to eat it.

• Live mealworms are irresistible, especially during the breeding season when growing chicks need soft protein.
• Dried mealworms are cheaper and tidier — soak them in warm water for twenty minutes first to make them easier to swallow.
• Suet, particularly suet pellets or crumbly suet blocks, gives valuable energy in cold weather.
• Sunflower hearts are taken readily and leave no messy husks behind.
• Robin-specific mixes usually combine suet, dried insects and fine seeds, which suits their small beak better than coarse seed blends.

Skip bread, which fills birds up without nourishing them, and avoid whole peanuts outside a proper mesh feeder. Never put out salted, mouldy or cooked leftovers. A shallow tray on or near the ground, placed within a metre or two of a shrub, is the ideal feeding station — robins dislike crossing open ground to reach food.

Planting for shelter, nesting and natural food

If you want robins to stay rather than visit, plant for cover. Hawthorn, blackthorn, holly, honeysuckle, dog rose, pyracantha and cotoneaster all create the dense, prickly tangle robins love, and they provide berries and insects into the bargain. Ivy is one of the best plants in any wildlife garden: it offers nesting sites, shelter and late-season nectar.

Try to be a slightly untidy gardener. Leave a pile of leaf litter in a corner, allow a patch of long grass, and stop using pesticides and slug pellets, which remove the insects robins depend on and can poison the birds themselves. When you dig or turn the compost, stand back for a moment — any robin within earshot will be there almost immediately.

Nest sites, boxes and nest etiquette

Robins use open-fronted nest boxes rather than the enclosed hole-fronted type used by blue tits. Site one about 1.5 to 2 metres up, tucked into ivy, honeysuckle or a dense climber, and face it between north and east so it avoids the worst of the sun and driving rain. Robins will also nest in the most unlikely places: a hanging basket, an old kettle, a shelf in a shed, a plant pot left undisturbed.

Breeding runs from March to July, and a pair may raise two or three broods. All wild birds' nests, eggs and young are legally protected in the UK, so once a nest is in use leave it strictly alone. Avoid trimming hedges or cutting back climbers between March and August, and resist the temptation to peer inside. If you find a nest while gardening, quietly work elsewhere and let the birds settle.

Water, hygiene and year-round care

A shallow bird bath, no more than two to four centimetres deep, will be used constantly. Keep it clean, refill it daily in hot weather and float a small ball in winter to keep a drinking hole open when it freezes. Robins bathe enthusiastically even in cold weather, so clean water matters as much as food.

Disease is a real risk at busy feeding stations. Wash feeders and trays every week in hot soapy water with a mild disinfectant, rinse thoroughly, dry them and move them to a different spot in the garden every few weeks so droppings do not build up in one place. Discard any food that looks damp or mouldy immediately.

Enjoying robins without disturbing them

The best way to watch robins is to sit still and low, a few metres back from the feeder, and let them come to you. They quickly learn a routine, and many will arrive within seconds of hearing a fork go into the soil. Do not hand-feed or try to tempt them indoors; a robin that loses its wariness of people, cats and windows is a robin in danger.

Watch for courtship feeding in spring, when the male passes food to the female, and for the speckled, brown-breasted juveniles of summer — a young robin has no red breast at all until its first autumn moult. A garden that offers insects, cover, clean water and a little quiet patience will hold robins all year, and few things in British gardening are more rewarding than that.