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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: British robin

Round Robin

07 Thursday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

≈ Comments Off on Round Robin

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, British robin, robin, round robin

By ‘Round Robin’, I mean a Robin (bird) that looks round because it’s fluffed up all its feathers to increase trapped air to keep itself warm, as opposed to round-robin, a tournament where each contestant competes with every other contestant (rather than a knockout competition, where contestants get eliminated in stages, in, for example, a series of quarter- and semi-finals). And then I wondered if the two robins were somehow related but it turns out they’re not. According to Wikipedia, in round-robin the competition the word robin is a corruption of the French term ruban, which means ribbon, though, if you’re a word nut like me, you might like to check out The Phrase Finder website, which has even more interesting information about the origin of the term.

210107 round robin

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179/366 Bob bob bobbin’

27 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, bobbing robin, British birds, British robin, Erithacus rubecula, juvenile Robin, robin

As the song goes …
‘When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along, along
There’ll be no more sobbin’ when he starts throbbin’ his old sweet song….’
~ Harry Woods, ‘When the red red robin comes bob bob bobbin’ along’, 1926

200627 robin (1)200627 robin (2)

Woods was writing about an American Robin (Turdus migratorius), which is a very different bird from the British Robin (Erithacus rubecula), but the bobbing still applies. And this juvenile Robin, which is just moulting into its adult plumage, was bobbing very well for me during yesterday’s exercise walk.

200627 robin (3)200627 robin (4)

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27/366 Rockin’ Robin

27 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, British robin, robin, Robin Redbreast

200127 robin (4)

‘He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin’ and a-boppin’ and singing his song’
~  lyrics by Jimmie Thomas

200127 robin (1)200127 robin (2)200127 robin (3)

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258/365 Staking a claim

15 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, British robin, robin, singing Robin

I’ve been reading a book by a man who has gradually been losing his hearing and, as the book progresses through a year of his life, so he has lost the sounds of certain birds whose songs are no longer within the range of his hearing. I find this incredibly sad but it’s also made me value even more the birds I can hear, like this little Robin. Having finished its breeding and parenting duties and its moult, it’s now singing to stake its claim on a nice bit of territory to see it through the lean months of winter.

190915 robin

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2/365 Feeling guilty

02 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, British robin, robin, Robin Redbreast

Winter seems finally to have arrived and it was frosty when I arrived at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park early this morning, hoping for a nice long walk before the school holiday crowds arrived. Unfortunately, in my haste to leave home, I forgot to fill my seed container so had nothing to offer the hungry birds. This fluffed-up little Robin was not at all impressed.

190102 robin

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Yuletide Greetings

25 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

British robin, robin, Robin Redbreast

Season’s Greetings to all my followers!
May your Yuletide be filled with much good cheer.  

181225 Yuletide greetings

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My little Welsh Robin

13 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, British robin, redbreast, robin, Robin Redbreast

181213 robin (1)

‘Art thou the bird whom Man loves best,
The pious bird with the scarlet breast,
Our little English Robin …’
~  from William Wordsworth, ‘The Redbreast Chasing the Butterfly’, 1806

181213 robin (2)
181213 robin (3)

Blogger’s note: This particular little cutie, with whom I shared some quality moments – me chatting and it peeping – at Penarth Heads beach on Monday, is actually a Welsh (not English) Robin. And its breast is really more orange than red but I’ve just this week found out why it was formerly known as Redbreast and described as having a red or scarlet rather than orange breast – it’s because orange as a colour (which originated from the fruit of the same name) was unknown in Britain prior to the mid 16th century.

181213 robin (4)
181213 robin (5)
181213 robin (6)
181213 robin (7)

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Conversations with robins: 6

28 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, British robin, conversations with robins, robin

170128-conversations-with-robins-56-1

Robin: ‘The food table’s looking a bit empty!’

170128-conversations-with-robins-56-2

Me: ‘Well, hello to you, too, Robin.’
Robin: ‘Oh, okay. Hello, lady.’

170128-conversations-with-robins-56-3

Me: ‘Nice to see you today.’
Robin: ‘Never mind the small talk. It’s cold and I’m hungry!’

170128-conversations-with-robins-56-4

Me: ‘So, what else is new?’
Robin: ‘I’m still not seeing any food here. Suet is my favourite, y’ know.’

170128-conversations-with-robins-56-5

Me: ‘Yes, I know. And you’ll glare at me until I give you some, won’t you?’
Robin: ‘Darn right!’

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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