Everyone's favourite festive psychopath - the robin

admin
, 19 December 2013

Author Michael Blencowe

Lewes Community Wildlife Officer

Americans have chosen to align themselves with a mighty eagle. India have elected the elegant peacock. But we've voted an antisocial, murderous ball of anger as our national bird. So what is it about the robin that us Brits find so endearing?

robin / Mark Greco robin / Mark Greco
Well that famous orange-red breast, a flaming flash of feathers in a bland back garden of blackbirds, sparrows and starlings is certainly striking. Those disproportionately large eyes give robins a cute 'face' but they're useful to a bird which hunts for beetles and worms under bushes in low light levels.

They're certainly cheeky little beggars. As we kneel weeding in the mud they'll hop along hoping for a castaway worm. Elsewhere in Europe robins actively avoid human contact and inhabit dark forests where they follow feeding boars as they dig in the soil. So in Britain robins view us as big pigs in gardening gloves.

Surely the greatest coup that the robin has pulled off is cornering the lucrative Christmas market, especially considering the only other bird we associate with Christmas is beheaded and stuffed into an oven at gas mark 4. This Christmas connection is linked to the red tunic plumage of Victorian postmen. Robins were pictured carrying the post on the earliest Christmas cards and since then the have joined Rudolph, snowmen and Santa himself as Christmas celebrity A-listers.

Attractive, friendly and festive - everyone loves a robin. Well everyone it seems apart from other robins. Robins hate other robins.

Robins are highly territorial and, once invisible boundaries have been established, robins will rule their kingdom like feathered Fuhrers. They'll sing their washing-line war cries from dawn to dusk or patrol the garden noisily tick-tick-tick-ing like a timebomb and cocking their tail threateningly. Female robins are just as tyrannical and will also sing and scuffle, unusual amongst female birds. Robins are equal opportunity aggressors and will fight other birds no matter what colour; but when a robin sees red it sees red. Robins will peck, scratch, batter and kick any other robin that puts as much as a feather across their line. Behind that red breast beats the black heart of a ruthless killing machine. Fatalities are common.

For the past few months this front lawn turf war has intensified but around Christmas there are subtle signs of a ceasefire. The song of the robin becomes more hopeful and in the bleak midwinter something remarkable happens; robins unexpectedly and temporarily fall in love. For a brief period courting couples can be seen feeding alongside each other. As we enter the New Year this peace agreement ends and it's back to brutal business as usual. But these Christmas couples will re-unite to form a family in the spring.

For robins Christmas is a time for peace, hope and worms. Here's hoping you have a similar Christmas full of peace and hope. As for the worms? I'm sure we'll all open a whole new can in 2014.

Leave a comment

Comments

  • Lesley Raymond:

    BRILLIANT! Happy New Year to all.

    05 Jan 2014 05:16:04

Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1783708426.21160 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1783708426.24590.0343Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1783708426.24610.0002Server address: 216.73.217.88
1783708426.24620Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1783708426.24620Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/everyones-favourite-festive-psychopath-the-robin
    [s] => everyones-favourite-festive-psychopath-the-robin
    [1] => everyones-favourite-festive-psychopath-the-robin
)
1783708426.24650.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783708426.24760.0011 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1783708426.24950.0018 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1783708426.25010.0006INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1783708426.25240.0022 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22871258
1783708426.25310.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22871258
1783708426.25370.0006 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-10 18:33:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-10 18:33:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1783708426.25540.0017 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='everyones-favourite-festive-psychopath-the-robin')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-10 18:33:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1783708426.25790.0025 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783708426.25850.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=457 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-10 18:33:00'
1783708426.25930.0008 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1783708426.260.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1783708426.26060.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=38 LIMIT 1
1783708426.26110.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=33 LIMIT 1
1783708426.26180.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783708426.2620.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1783708426.26290.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-10 18:33:00' AND postSlug='everyones-favourite-festive-psychopath-the-robin'
1783708426.28250.0196Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783708426.28310.0006 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1783708426.28450.0015Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1783708426.28480.0003 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1783708426.28550.0007 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1783708426.28710.0015 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783708426.29010.003 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783708426.29050.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783708426.29250.002Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1783708426.29250.0001 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783708426.29340.0009 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783708426.29390.0005 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783708426.29710.0031 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783708426.29820.0011 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783708426.29910.0009 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783708426.30240.0033 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783708426.3030.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1783708426.3050.002 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1783708426.30540.0004Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783708426.30560.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783708426.30630.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1783708426.30670.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='everyones-favourite-festive-psychopath-the-robin')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-10 18:33:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1783708426.30840.0018 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783708426.3090.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783708426.30960.0006Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1783708426.31080.0012 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=457 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1783708426.36120.0503 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1783708426.36160.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783708426.36180.0001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783708426.36240.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1783708426.3630.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1783708426.36350.0005 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783708426.36550.002 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783708426.36590.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783708426.36790.0019 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783708426.3690.0011 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783708426.36960.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783708426.370.0004 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783708426.37250.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783708426.37290.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783708426.37490.0019 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783708426.37880.0039 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1783708426.37950.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1783708426.380.0005 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783708426.38220.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783708426.38280.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783708426.38470.0019 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783708426.38740.0026 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783708426.38810.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783708426.38850.0004 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783708426.39060.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783708426.39110.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783708426.39320.002 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783708426.39470.0016Request time: 0.1858
1783708426.39480Process time: 0.1857
1783708426.39480Memory: 1.6218