Lovely Birds

[BomberPat]

I never grew up with the stories about robins representing lost loved ones - I grew up around farms, and we owned a lot of animals, so it was almost a point of principle from my parents and older brother not to anthropomorphise them or lean into myth or folklore or anything like that.

But last year I was with my partner walking through some woodland around the Forest of Dean, and my family had just recently lost one of their dogs, Alfie, who was a real favourite of mine. As we were walking across some stepping stones, a robin came and landed on the one right in front of me, and my girlfriend said that it was Alfie come to make sure I was okay. I got really teary-eyed and still do when thinking about it. Then in January we were visiting my parents, and a robin came and landed outside the window right by me as soon as I got sat in my usual chair in their living room, and again, my girlfriend just turned to me and said, "there's Alfie". It's a bit of folk belief I'm perfectly happy to have adopted.

[Gus Mears]

I've long enjoyed the concept of robin's being loved ones. We had a particularly friendly blighter who turned up at the house shortly after my Dad died. Then he flew in through the bedroom window and took a massive shit on the bedspread, doing little to add to the charm and whimsy of the idea.

[gmoney]

I think I've mentioned this on here before, but I always think of my nan when I see a robin in the garden attacking other birds without provocation. 

 

[Keith Houchen]

We always had a Robin visit our garden and my girlfriend liked to think it was her nana keeping an eye on her. Her house was always a safe haven for her during a troubled childhood. Her granddad spent his life after she died with bad depression (understandable) and he died recently.  On the journey back from his funeral my girlfriend kept saying “At least he’s with nana now”. 
 

The next morning there were two Robins in the garden. 

[Bus Surfer]

I think I said similar in this thread last year about Robins. I've spotted a Robin in our garden a few times over the last years since my Mam passed. My Dad passed away 2 weeks back so I shall keep an eye out and see if we get anymore. 

Edited April 22 by Bus Surfer

[Carbomb]

I love robins, they're little sods, bold as brass. Very often, when I've been doing gardening and digging up bits of the flower bed, there's been a robin that'll fly down and stand literally a foot away from my hands, perched on the edge of the hole I've dug, looking out for worms. 

There was a robin that became famous for hanging around the beer garden of a pub in Chelsea (think it was the Bunch of Grapes) - it was recognisable because it had a bent beak, and it achieved notoriety for landing on people's tables while they were eating and nicking their chips right off the plate. 

[BomberPat]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

I love robins, they're little sods, bold as brass. Very often, when I've been doing gardening and digging up bits of the flower bed, there's been a robin that'll fly down and stand literally a foot away from my hands, perched on the edge of the hole I've dug, looking out for worms. 

They're pretty much completely unafraid of people; evolutionarily speaking, they used to follow wild boar and pigs around because they knew that they would dredge up a bunch of worms and insects as they moved through soil and undergrowth, and once that behaviour had been figured out it took biologists a while to get their heads around how robins had been able to flourish so well when the species that basically created that niche for them had mostly died out. The answer is that they replaced boar and pigs with humans, and human gardeners in particular - they're so tame and unafraid of us because they have spent thousands of years following us around because they associate us with an increased likelihood of food.