Find out what robins eat \u2013 both in the wild and in your garden \u2013 with BBC Countryfile Magazine’s expert guide. <\/p>
When it comes to food, different species of garden bird<\/a> have different preferences. These preferences may vary from week to week and month to month.<\/p> The robin<\/a>, Britain\u2019s favourite garden bird<\/a>, has quite a varied diet, feeding on insects and worms in the wild and a range of foods in our gardens, such as seeds, mealworms, suet and crushed peanuts.<\/p> For many of us, seeing this little red-breasted bird is the highlight of the day. So, what else do they eat and how can you attract them to your garden?<\/p> The very British habit of feeding birds in our gardens began in the sixth century when St Serf hand-tamed a robin by offering it morsels of food. We’re not sure exactly what was fed to robins back then, but what about today?<\/p> Robins are fairly broadminded in their choice of food. Without human assistance, they like to eat insects (particularly beetles<\/a>) and worms.<\/p> Like all small birds in winter, obtaining energy is the key. So if you’d like to attract them to your garden then put out a range of high-value seeds (kibbled sunflower hearts are ideal).<\/p> Also put out balls of fat or \u2018bird cake<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 a rich mixture of fat and seeds. Mealworms are a real treat \u2013 place them in a smooth-sided bowl so that they can\u2019t escape. <\/p> Winter is a good time to put up\u00a0nestboxes<\/a>: robins need open-fronted ones that are hidden away behind foliage or climbing plants so that they don\u2019t attract the attention of cats.<\/p> Robins rarely come to hanging feeders \u2013 though in hard winters you may see the odd one clinging on for dear life \u2013 but happily visit ground feeders and bird tables. They often chase off birds much bigger than themselves to ensure they get enough to eat.<\/p> In autumn and winter, thrushes<\/a> make the most of fallen apples. Tits<\/a>, starlings<\/a> and great spotted woodpeckers<\/a> relish a bird table<\/a> piled high with peanuts. While siskins<\/a>, redpolls<\/a> and occasionally chaffinches are attracted to niger seeds.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Find out what robins eat \u2013 both in the wild and in your garden \u2013 with BBC Countryfile Magazine’s expert guide. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31295,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/what-do-robins-eat.png",2344,1556,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/what-do-robins-eat-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/what-do-robins-eat-300x199.png",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/what-do-robins-eat-768x510.png",768,510,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/what-do-robins-eat-1024x680.png",800,531,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/what-do-robins-eat-1536x1020.png",1536,1020,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/what-do-robins-eat-2048x1360.png",2048,1360,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Find out what robins eat \u2013 both in the wild and in your garden \u2013 with BBC Countryfile Magazine's expert guide.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What do robins eat?<\/h2>
What do other garden birds eat?<\/h3>
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