"My Friend Robin"
My friend Robin visits me most times, when I go out into my garden. Sometimes I'm there to empty my peelings into my compost bins, or hang out the washing. He always makes an appearance when I tend to my bird feeders, but that's not surprising because my friend Robin, is just that a Robin "Erithacus rubecula".
Robin talks to me, I don't understand him, but he definitely talks to me. It's a very quiet burbley twitter, it's a gentle song that I can barely hear but it's aimed at me. Who or what else? There's nothing or anybody else close enough to hear him.
Robin is not tame, he doesn't take food from my hand despite my endless efforts and mixed treats. He will sit on my "wheelie bin" which is the handy surface I use to fill my feeders, so is within 50cms. As a wildlife photographer I have a large library of reference books. One of these describes the robin as a "shy woodland bird", that he aint, but it also states that mealworms are a favorite diet, this has been endorsed on several wildlife programmes but nobody has told Robin, he doesn't touch them!
Robin's not camera shy but doesn't like flash, he's quite happy to allow me to get close enough to use my 105mm lens. I will continue to photograph Robin and post these images on my site and will update these musings when I have anything to report.
21/01/2009
Please click on thumbnail for larger images
SNOW!
The big snow arrived & I thought now was the chance of some "Christmas Card Shots" with Robin. But he'd got other ideas, I went out to make my feeders more accessible for the birds & expected Robin to be one of the first on the scene. He didn't appear, I whistled and made twitter like noises, he then deigned to make an appearance. First he perched on a higher branch than usual, then dropped down to what seems to be his favorite perching spot. I put seed onto the "wheelie bin" for him, but instead of settling down for a seed or two he swooped grabbed and then re perched on his spot. From this action I can only surmise he doesn't like getting his feet cold. Despite more encouragement from me, I couldn't persuade him to pose for me and as you will see from the last shot of the session he appeared to turn his back on me in protest.
HOWEVER
Putting my disappointment aside I ventured down to Pooh Bridge, to get some winter shots. No sooner had I put my tripod up when a robin appeared right next to me! This one was obviously a much hardier chap. All puffed up he was quite happy to let me shoot away. I have now got some "Christmas Card Shots" in my library.
02/02/2009
