Table of Contents 1. 2. ‘We’ve had the same pair of Robins in our garden for years’3. ‘Male and female Robins look different’4. ‘Only male Robins sing so that’s a way to tell male and female apart’5. ‘Robins appear when loved ones are near’6. Robins, like other songbirds, are declining because of predators

The Robin is unquestionably the UK’s favourite garden bird, and indeed a number of polls have confirmed this. But along with the Robin’s popularity, there are a number of myths and misconceptions associated with this bird with the instantly recognisable red-breast. So we thought we’d take five of these widely-held beliefs and see if we can put the record straight.

‘We’ve had the same pair of Robins in our garden for years’

Whilst this is technically possible, the reality is that it’s extremely unlikely. The average lifespan of a Robin is just 13 months, with many individuals never making it to one year. Some individual Robins may live much longer than that – the oldest known being 11 years and five months. These sort of numbers are not unusual with small songbirds, which is why they’ve evolved to have large broods – and in the case of the Robin often two or even three broods per season.

It’s also the case that Robins don’t mate for life, so if both the male and female did live long enough to breed for a second or even a third year, then it’s unlikely it would be with the same mate from the first year.

‘Male and female Robins look different’

They don’t! Although there can be very subtle differences between the male and female Robin, including the shape of the top of the head, these differences are not consistent. Both male and female Robins have the same red breast, so telling them apart by their plumage is virtually impossible. Sometimes individual male Robins might have a slightly brighter red breast than their female mate, but again this is not consistent.

‘Only male Robins sing so that’s a way to tell male and female apart’

Not true – female Robins also sing, and a fairly recent scientific study showed that female Robins can sing with the same strength as a male. However, the complexity and strength of the song can be less at some times of year compared to that of the male bird.

‘Robins appear when loved ones are near’

Well we’re certainly not going to try and challenge this one, because it’s clearly important for any person to be able to take comfort in any way they wish from observing nature – and this particular one is a lovely example. But what we can say from a purely ornithological perspective, is that the Robin’s behaviour of following us around the garden whilst we’re working, is due to its association of us with food, as gardening work often disturbs invertebrates such as earthworms. This behaviour of ‘following’ by Robins also takes place with some species of wild mammal, and notably wild boar which churn up forest floors in search of food.

Robins, like other songbirds, are declining because of predators

Absolutely not! In fact figures from our partner the BTO show that the Robin population in the UK has increased by a whopping 49% since the mid-1960s, with the likely reason being a trend for less severe winters. It’s also important to say that scientific research has shown no link between slightly increased numbers of some predator species such as Sparrowhawk and Magpie, and the decline of some species of songbird at a national level – the reasons for those declines are much more to do with breeding habitat loss and intensive farming methods which have resulted in less invertebrate food. For more details on why predators like Sparrowhawks do not impact songbird numbers, have a read of this blog.