Expert settles debate on robins coming back to your garden

They are the little red birds that have become synonymous with Christmas cards and cosy British traditions. But many households don't realise they've been wrong about the robins that visit their gardens for many years.

According to garden bird expert, Lucy Taylor of Vine House Farm Bird Foods, there are many widely held beliefs about why robins appear in your garden, and how often, that aren't actually true.

She has now gone on record to settle the debate about the small songbirds that are without doubt the UK's favourite.

According to Lucy, it's actually very unlikely that robins will come back to your garden year after year. This is because robins have a typical life expectancy of just 13 months. That means next time you spot a robin flocking back to your bird table the following Christmas, it's almost certainly not the same one.

She told the Express: "Whilst this is technically possible, the reality is that it's extremely unlikely. This is because the average lifespan of a robin is just 13 months, with many individuals never making it to one year.

"These sort of numbers are usual with small songbirds, which is why they've evolved to have large broods - and in the case of the Robin often two or even three broods per season."

She also said that it's very difficult to tell any difference between male and female robins: "There can be very subtle differences between male and female which include the shape of the top of the head, but these are not consistent.

"Both male and female robin have the same red breast, so telling them apart by their plumage is virtually impossible.

"Female robins also sing, and in fact a fairly recent scientific study showed that female robins can sing with the same strength as a male. However, the complexity and strength of the song can be less at some times of year compared to that of the male bird."

But the good news is that robins are one of the few birds whose population is thriving, unlike some species such as starlings and sparrows.

She added: "In fact, the robin population in the UK has increased by a whopping 49% since the mid-1960s, with the likely reason being a trend for less severe winters.

"It's also important to say that scientific research has shown no link between slightly increased numbers of some predator species such as sparrowhawk and magpie, and the decline of some species of songbird at a national level - the reasons for those declines are much more to do with habitat loss and intensive farming methods."