Something very exciting has been happening this week…we’ve just found out we’ve got babies! Baby robins, that is! Let me set the scene…
A few weeks ago, I was on the phone (probably to my Mum) and I was gazing out of our patio doors when I noticed a robin, standing INSIDE my garden shed.
“No”, I thought, “I must be hallucinating…” (like that was a FAR more reasonable explanation)
I put the thought out of my head until last week, Husband proclaimed “A robin just flew into our shed!”
“Aha!”, I thought, glad not to have been in the early stages of a psychotic break.
So, we’ve been watching two robins flying in and out of the shed for a couple of weeks, watching them frantically searching for food, knowing that there must be babies in there and on Monday, Husband managed to sneakily get this snap through the window:
Isn’t he a beauty? We’ve learned that robins don’t get their red breast until they reach maturity, although you can see the beginnings of orangey patched on this little dudes’ chest. He’s not alone either, we’re pretty sure there are two babies in there as we’ve seen them hopping around together. Mr. and Mrs. Robin work tirelessly to feed their young, we’ve sat and watched them for whole afternoons, zooming in and out, hopping through the hole above the shed door with worms and berries in their beaks.
On Monday, Husband and I decided that we’d help our lodgers along in their daily toil to feed their young and we bought a variety of bird food, which we’ve secreted in various locations around the garden. Suet pellets, mealworms, soaked raisins and robin museli have gone down a treat! We didn’t want to put a bird table up, as we’ve heard that they attract cats as we had to come up with some other, impromptu ways of dispensing the food. Husband came up with the great idea of getting a carton from a dozen eggs and cutting it into sections, which we then taped on windowsills and outside the shed, and we even hid one in our trough of strawberries!
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed observing the robins and getting a little bit closer to nature (did you see what I did there?!) and we’ll be sad when our babies fly the nest, something that we think isn’t far off, given the size of them. We’d love to see your nature photos too, so please get involved by linking up any recent nature-related posts and you can even stick one of our badges on there too, if you like. (code in sidebar)
How amazing is that – and what great close up photos too.
Ooh thats exciting! We had ducklings in the courtyard downstairs last year, and was so exciting to watch them grow, and when they flew the nest the Mummy Duck quacked for them for 2 nights- it was heartbreaking!!
He rocks in the treetops all day long, rocking and bobbin’ and singin’ his song!
Sorry went all Jacko for momento. I never knew that about them not having their red bit until they are older.Love Robins, they always seem so trusting for birds. A bit fearless. I remember as a child one that used to sit on my dads spade handle whilst he still held it.
Innovative bird feeders!
its lovely to watch nature so closely. we videod swallows from egg to fledge a few years back ( just cos we could) its amazing to see how in such a short time they are ready to leave home……think how much more peaceful life would be if our kids could.
Hmmmm, we had a robin in our shed last weekend *runs off to see if there is a nest in said shed*
How lovely to be able to watch the baby robins as they grow. I was in Florida last week and learnt a lot about animals. I’ve shared a post about it above.
Just one word of advice, as soon as they have left your shed for good make sure you get rid of the nest straight away and spray the area for fleas. We get starlings nesting each year and it’s lovely until they go, then suddenly all the mites and fleas that were living in the nest have to look elsewhere for a meal and your family and pets will be their first stop, it can take months to be rid of them if you don’t act fast! Bird fleas can survive for months without a meal and mites breed like crazy :s
I would happily swap our starlings for robins though, we get a pair that frequent the front garden and they are lovely (and have a much prettier song too).
Lovely to a robin up close.
That’s so cool! We used to put food out on our window ledge and the ex managed to get a photo of a robin looking into our living room window.They certainly have got an ideal place to nest in your shed.