4 Ways to Protect Robins in Winter
Winter can be tough on little birds like robins. And with parts of the country experiencing below-freezing temperatures, wildlife experts are urging households to support the beautiful red-breasted birds.
Garden wildlife expert and director of Ark Wildlife, Sean McMenemy, is encouraging people to provide robins and other native garden birds with food and drinking water over the winter months.
Robins can use up to 10% of their body weight to keep warm on a single winter night. But when temperatures drop and the ground freezes, finding food becomes very hard for the garden birds without our help.
So, if you're wondering how to make your garden a haven for wildlife this winter? Keep reading for Sean's helpful tips:
How to make your garden a safe haven for robins this winter
1. Nestboxes
Putting up a bird nestbox helps keep birds warm and also acts as a roosting site for them at night. Place them at least two meters from dense vegetation to prevent surprise attacks from cats and other predators.
2. Water
Bird tables can make a huge difference to a small robin, especially in urban and suburban areas. If you're able to, create as many water sources in the garden as possible. You will want to try and prevent the water from freezing in particularly cold weather. For this, Sean recommends "placing a ping pong ball in the bird bath."
3. Other shelter
Don't forget about leaving other natural shelter such as undergrowth, instead of cutting it back and tidying it up. Leaving it will encourage insects and help robins find food.
4. Food
"Robins are primarily insectivorous birds, which means that they eat lots of insects and invertebrates," explains bird expert and manager at Vine House Farm, Lucy Tailor.
However, "during the autumn and winter months, when insects become scarce," they tend to eat "fruits, berries, seeds and nuts," Lucy continues. But you can give them a helping hand by putting out food for them.
The best foods to put out for robins include:
Mealworms and calci worms
Fatty foods like suet pellets
Special high-protein robin blends
Meaty kitchen scraps
Mild cheese
Cake and biscuit crumbs
Dried fruit
Peanuts (shredded or crushed)
Robins prefer to forage and feed off the ground, so place a small tray with some of the above foods near a shrub tree or a perch, which will encourage them to spend more time in your garden.
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