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Hi everyone,

This might sound a strange problem, but I'm wondering if anyone here will have experienced it themselves. I grow most of my vegetables in my back garden, which has always worked very well for me. However, this year I have been plagued by a persistent and quite scary robin who has taken offence at my being there. It's getting to the point where it's hard for me to go down to the bottom of the garden as after a minute or less it has appeared and is swooping over me in quite an aggressive way. I know that robins can be very territorial, but I'm not sure what I can do about it? The behaviour seems to be directly almost exclusively at me, as when I am with my boyfriend or if my boyfriend is in the garden alone, it is not a problem.

I don't want to seem cruel, but at this point I'd really like some advice on how to deter the robin or gently encourage it to move on? I'm getting a bit desperate!

Hi Megan, welcome to Ish!

Now, I'm no robin expert, but we have quite a lot in our garden all year round - they're all called Gerald & seem quite happy enough

Anyway, with birds, it's not often they will attack those that feed them - so you could try that? It takes a bit of time & patience, but if you can make it work, you'll all be a lot happier outside!

So, when you go out, if the bird is there, pop some peanuts/seed/fatballs/bacon rind out, but make sure the bird can see you doing it. Do this several times over a few days - it will soon come to view you as 'the feeding lady' & should leave you well enough alone.

Good luck!

I wonder if it has a nest nearby and is trying to scare you away from the area........just a thought but don't actually know if it's right .

I'd say so, they'll protect chicks aggressively.

The worst we've had is trying not to decapitate one that used to fly under the spade as we were digging!

They're usually the cheekiest and friendliest of birds - I'd definitely go for the "nearby nest" theory, although even that would surprise me. And yes - make a point of leaving food for it, and make sure it sees you do it.

Mike

EDIT: @Julie ... Gerald?

Well Mike, can you think of a better name for a Robin than Gerald? And we have a lot of them here, so to give them individual names would have been a nightmare....

Last year however, we had a young lad who had one feather in his breast that grew horizontally - so Leah called him Gezza - just because she could tell him apart from the rest!

And yes, all turkeys are called Edna - that's just the law.

Hi Megan and welcome Oh and all our snails are called Gary!

Edna Turkey.
Gerald Robin.
Gary Snail.

Now it's been pointed out, I'm just gobsmacked that I failed to see the simple logic.



Mike

Don't worry MKG I am normal cos all mine are called Robbie. All moorhens are Millies though, our muskrats are called Malcolm and our coypus are all Kevins.

Now robins are pretty aggressive birds when they see another one on their 'own' territory - so I wonder if it sees you (Megan) as another robin?

It's interesting to suggest that it might see me as a robin - I've heard that they don't like red things very much as it looks like the red breast of another robin? I do wear red quite a bit so it's possible.

I second the visible feeding- my parents eaves ( just above bathroom window) have a family of birds that return every year & since actively putting out food they have been fine & less aggressive when anyone goes in the bathroom during the day!

Btw any fox that is seen in our garden is Geoffrey! Glad to know I'm not the only one naming garden visitors!

Gerald Robin.
Gary Snail.
Geoffrey Fox

Hmmm, bit of a 'G' theme going on here. Personally, I call all foxes Gerouttahere!

Zoe

Zoe

We call our squirrel Mr Furryarse. And we call the cat from two doors down Satan. (We don't dislike him though, he's just got a scary expression).

We used to have a cat visit our garden that we called Dennis - he had a white face with large grey eyebrows,and looked just like Dennis Healey! Sadly Dennis akaTipsy,is no longer with us

Back on the robin thing they are savage, how many other creatures that small have the courage to get that close to us,,if robins were human sized I'd crap myself