How to Attract Robins to Your Garden This Autumn and Winter

Robins are one of the few garden birds that keep singing right through the colder months, and they are famously bold around people. With a few small changes you can make your garden a spot they visit every day. This guide covers what to feed them, where to put food and water, how to keep them safe and how to encourage them to nest in spring.

Why robins visit gardens in autumn and winter

Unlike many birds, both male and female robins hold their own territories through the winter, which is why you can hear them singing on dark November afternoons. A garden that offers reliable food, water and cover can become part of a robin's patch, and once one has adopted your garden it will often turn up at similar times each day, especially early in the morning and again around dusk.

Robins are also very territorial, so it is normal to see only one at a time. If two meet you may see them puffing out their red breasts or chasing each other off.

1. Offer the food robins actually eat

Robins mainly eat insects and worms, so they are not big fans of standard seed mixes. Good options are mealworms (live or dried and soaked), suet pellets, chopped fruit such as apples and pears, and a little grated mild cheese in very cold weather. Put out small amounts regularly rather than a large pile.

Avoid salty foods, dry bread and anything mouldy. Bread fills birds up without giving them much energy, which matters most on long winter nights. If you can only put food out once a day, early morning is best, when birds are hungriest after the night.

2. Feed low and flat, not from hanging feeders

Robins prefer to feed from the ground or a flat surface and rarely cling to hanging feeders. A bird table or a shallow dish such as our leaf-shaped bird dish or flower bird feeder works well. Place it near a hedge or shrub so they have cover to dart back to, but not so close that cats can hide beside it.

Keep feeding spots clean: brush old food off tables and dishes every few days and give them a scrub with hot soapy water now and then, rinsing well. This helps stop diseases spreading between garden birds.

3. Keep fresh water available

Water is easy to forget in winter, but birds need it for drinking and bathing even when it is cold. A shallow bird bath, like our duo robin bird bath on a tall spike, gives them a safe spot off the ground. On frosty mornings, top it up with lukewarm (never boiling) water to melt the ice, and give it a quick clean every week or two.

Never add salt or antifreeze to stop water freezing, as both are harmful to birds. A small ball floating on the surface can help slow ice forming on milder frosty days.

4. Leave some of the garden a little wild

A tidy lawn has fewer insects. Leaving a pile of leaves in a corner, some fallen logs or an unmown strip gives robins beetles, worms and spiders to forage for. When you are digging borders, you may even find a robin following you around looking for disturbed worms.

If you have space, native shrubs such as holly, hawthorn and ivy are worth planting. They give insects somewhere to live, berries in autumn and thick cover where robins can shelter.

5. Keep cats in mind

Robins spend a lot of time on the ground, which makes them vulnerable. Put feeding spots where birds have a clear view all round, and avoid placing them right beside fences or dense plants where a cat could wait unseen.

6. Think about shelter for spring

Robins like to nest in dense climbers, hedges and open-fronted nest boxes tucked into vegetation around 1.5 to 2 metres up. Putting a box up in autumn gives birds time to get used to it before the breeding season. Robins usually start nesting from around March and can raise two or three broods by the end of summer, so a well-placed box can be busy for months.

Robin questions we often get asked

Do robins eat bird seed?

They will pick at softer, husk-free mixes on the ground, but insects, worms, mealworms and suet are much better for them. Hanging seed feeders are rarely used by robins.

Why do robins follow gardeners?

When you dig, you turn up worms and grubs. Robins have learned that people working in the garden mean an easy meal, which is why one will often perch on a fork handle or a nearby post while you work.

Why is there only ever one robin in my garden?

Robins defend their patch firmly, including in winter, so they tend to chase others away. In spring you may start to see a pair together once they begin nesting.

Bring robins into the garden all year round

Even on the days the real ones are hiding, a robin ornament adds a cheerful splash of red to borders and pots. Our rustic metal robin ornament, robin on a stick and rusty robin garden stake are made from weather-resistant metal and look great among winter planting.

A robin ornament also makes a thoughtful Christmas present for anyone who loves their garden. See our full robin collection or browse more Christmas gifts for garden lovers.

Browse all garden ornaments → | Bird feeders and bird baths →