Round Robin

Sometimes there are photographs you take that just simply amuse you and that you go back to time and again. One such image for me is of a Robin I photographed at Attenborough Nature Reserve in 2010. We were in the grip of the coldest December the UK had experienced in over a 100 years with temperatures dipping as low as -11 and staying well below subzero throughout the day times. I recall the dashboard temperature gauge in my car reading -11 at 9.00am, a very rare occurrence for the East Midlands.

The lakes at Attenborough Nature Reserve were completely frozen over, the first time I had witnessed this, and a heavy hoarfrost enveloped everything creating a truly beautiful winters landscape.

In order for Robins and many of our little feathery friends (both native and migratory) to survive such harsh conditions they have to get plenty of food, especially fatty foods, such as peanuts, fat-balls, suet etc. This enables them to gain more weight, which in turn increases their fat reserves and acts as an insulator against the cold. I knew that they could bulk up but never really knew to what degree, having lived through so many mild winters! As you will see from the picture below, this little fella, well, was practically spherical! So much so, it actually looks comical and you could be forgiven for thinking it has been tinkered with in Photoshop, which I can promise you, it definitely hasn't!

This picture never fails to make me smile though and I hope that it goes someway to brightening up what might be an otherwise grey and chilly Monday afternoon.

Round Robin! Plumped up for Winter

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