This year I spent a lot of time trying to tame a robin that sang to me in the winter to feed from my hand. It’s become my little buddy that I give breakfast to every morning when I walk the dog.
Many gardeners might notice how the Robins may follow them round the garden looking for tasty worms they unearth with their spade but how have Robins learnt to do this and associate us with food?
The Robin, standing only 14cm tall is the nation’s favourite bird and was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family but is now considered to belong to the old world flycatcher family.
They are well known for being tame but why? The reason is that they evolved to follow large mammals utilising the disturbance they made to the ground either by foot or a when something like a wild boar would be rooting with its snout to dig for food. The little Robins learnt to slip in and out to grab an easy meal of disturbed insects from the soil.
This ancestral behaviour is still with them to this day as they ow follow us humans in the hope of that easy meal.
Earning the trust of a wild animal is something very special and every morning when I offer a handful of mealworm to my feathered friend it fills me with joy as he hops onto my hand and grabs a treat.
Give it a go.
Thanet nature expert Nik Mitchell runs the Get Wild page on facebook
