Pause in hostilities

The “household bird with the red stomacher” as John Donne described the robin, is normally fiercely territorial outside the breeding season. Males and females defend separate domains, singing and — if necessary — fighting to maintain their patches. During very harsh weather hostilities may be dropped in gardens where food is plentiful. In late winter females begin to prospect for partners, gingerly entering a male’s zone. Cordial relations are gradually established and for a few months birds will form harmonious pairs to breed and raise chicks. Nest-building will commence in the coming weeks — an operation carried out entirely by the female. While she constructs the cup-shaped nest of dead leaves, moss, roots and hair, her mate will feed her, providing about a third of