What can I say about the UK's most popular bird. Having travelled extensively throughout my life I always find it interesting to see how the very common birds are largely ignored by the locals in every country I visit and it's not until I return home that I wish I had taken more notice. The Robin here in the UK would fit in to that category, it's   a bird that any birder from another country would find it hard to ignore though.  They are particularly noticeable in the winter because not only are they very common in urban areas, they are also very confiding and are even attracted to any activity by humans.  They have evolved to feed on insects that have been disturbed by large animals so if you are working in the garden a Robin is likely to come and join you in the hope that you have disturbed a tasty morsel.  It's not just the males that have a red breast, both sexes are identical and even when I had them breeding in my garden this year I found it impossible to visually tell them apart.  One of the nice things about them is their winter song which is a familiar backdrop to a British winter.  Because of their very noticeable presence at this time of the year they are associated with Christmas and they are a common subject on many Christmas cards.  The American Robin is not related, or similar to the true Robin but named "Robin" because when the first settlers arrived in the New World they named the only bird with a red breast Robin – even though it is twice as big!

I photographed this one yesterday from my the hide where I was staking out Kingfishers.  I ought to be concerned about this because it would imply that the Robin was aware of my presence and probably means that my camo is not as good as it should be.  If the Robin knows I am there then surely so would a Kingfisher.