Another story is that a Robin pulled a thorn from the crown of Christ while he was on the cross, and that it was Christ’s blood that created the bird’s red breast.

Collect autumn leaves and make leaf prints. You will need paint and paper. You could also make sponge prints of birds and decorate with collage paper wings when dry. Make a Snowflake card One thing for certain is that there will be a reason – small birds are not going to expend vast amounts of energy flying hundreds of miles on a whim. It goes to show that we have lots to learn when it comes to bird behaviour, even for our most familiar species.

My main complaint, though, is the writing. It wasn't too bad for the most part, except right at the end. Suddenly, there were a whole bunch of -ly adverbs, and Bear smiled his speech (which is an instant loss of a star from me; you simply can't make words come out of your mouth with a silent action). Robins are particularly associated with Christmas. Investigate with the children the various ways that the robin is depicted at Christmas: on cards, calendars, wrapping paper and decorations. Make a display of these. Robins are happy to use bird boxes, but they do prefer large entrances–about 10 centimetres high. Spotted flycatchers, wagtails and wrens will also make use of a birdhouse with such a large opening. You can find more tips on the materials and dimensions for your birdhouse, and how best to clean it in our article on building your own bird box. How can I support robins even more? In extreme weather, several Robins can be seen feeding in the one spot. This suggests that the setting up of territory in the autumn has nothing to do with food provision. Robin’s Winter Song is a beautifully illustrated picture book that is the perfect read for this time of year. Autumn is almost over and winter is coming. But what exactly is winter?

I often wonder whether the Robins I see on my Extremadura patch in the winter are the same Robins I see on my British patch in the spring and summer! They start this southerly journey at the same time the birds that are staying behind start their autumnal song. The premise is quite amusing. When all of Robin's friends talk about Winter's impending arrival, he assumes it's a person. And that person sounds kind of nasty: scary, greedy, and cold. Since Robin's not a migrating bird, he hunkers down with Bear to wait out Winter's visit. But then he wakes up and sees the world transformed into a wonderland, plays with all of his friends in the snow, and ends up enjoying himself immensely. When he hears that Spring is coming, he doesn't get scared but, rather, looks forward to it.Cut a hole in the lid of a shoe box. Find some tissue paper or newspaper so that your child can make a comfy bed for a small teddy. Children can play the part of the story when robin follows bear and joins him for his winter sleep. Go for a walk Ocr tesseract 4.1.1 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.8923 Ocr_module_version 0.0.11 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-2000215 Openlibrary_edition The Story: Robin notices something is different when trees start losing their leaves, finches fly south and Squirrel is busy burying nuts. Helearns that winter is coming but is frightened as hedoesn’t know what winter is. He snuggles up to sleep with Bear and when he wakes up there is snow everywhere. Robin discovers that winter is fun and when the snow starts to melt he’s determined that spring, whatever it is, won’t frighten him. It won’t be long before the species that won last year’s Vote for Britain’s National Bird will be staring at you from the corner of your living-room. The Robin, quite possibly hopping around in the sort of snowfall we rarely see in December, and maybe even sporting a Santa hat, will be the star of a good many of the Christmas cards that you receive.

There are several ways to make it easier for robins to settle in your garden. Especially in winter, garden birds often need additional support because their natural food supply is insufficient. What do robins eat? In fact, the word ‘move’ doesn’t really do this justice; a better word would be migrate. We don’t tend to think of our humble Robin as a migratory bird, but in the east of its range it is a true migrant, with Scandinavian, eastern European and Russian birds all leaving their breeding areas for milder winter ones. Robins are real water lovers; often found near bodies of water and in humid places. If you don’t want to install a pond in your garden right away, however, set out a bird bath. Your garden robins will be happy for it and are sure to splash around in the warmer months. So manythemes that are familiar to children areincluded in Robin’s Winter Song– friendship, uncertainty, the changing of the seasons, dealing with new experiences. It would make a fabulous addition to a home or school library.It is estimated that 10% of all adult Robin deaths are caused by other Robins, and it is when the birds are establishing their autumn and spring territories that these fatalities are most likely to occur. A Robin singing on a cold morning may well be music to our ears, but it can be very dangerous for other Robins nearby.

But there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to what the female British Robin does in the late autumn; some stay where they are, some move short distances and others migrate to Europe, going as far as southern Spain.In the period just before the onset of this autumnal territorial behaviour, Robins are hard to find. We tend to think of the Robin as just being there, but if you keep notes on the birds you see in your garden or on your patch, you may well have noticed that in the second half of the summer these common little birds are not so easily seen. Make a robin finger puppet for your child to hold while you re read the story. Encourage them to join in with what the robin says and thinks – eg “ What are you doing?” , “Winter must be very scary!” Re-tell the story The males of the previous breeding season’s territories tend to remain resident within them, although the boundaries may be slightly modified. The female will sometimes also defend a territory near to the breeding one, but they are more likely to move away.