THE robin must be the one of the most recognisable birds in the UK, alongside the swan and the blackbird.

It is a symbol of Christmas just as much as Father Christmas and the Christmas tree are.

If you are out having a picnic or sitting outside tucking into a pub lunch, you are very liable to have a robin hopping around hoping for a crumb.

Digging in your garden? You can bet you’ll soon be joined by a robin looking for the juicy worms you’ve just uncovered.

This familiarity led to it twice being named Britain’s National Bird by popular vote, once in 1961 and again in 2015.

Strangely, this is not an official title and Britain does not actually have a national bird in the same way as the USA or New Zealand do for example.

As a birdwatcher I can guarantee that on any walk, at any time of the year, in just about any location, robin will be on the list of species seen.

This is not surprising as the RSPB considers there are 6,700,000 robin territories in the UK and the British Trust for Ornithology distribution maps show it present throughout the nation.

It’s bright orange-red breast, boldness and loud song, usually sung from a prominent perch in a bush or tree are so familiar that when you are next out and about remember, there is a lot more to the robin than meets the eye.

When I started birdwatching as a youngster robins were classified as part of the thrush family, so related to the blackbird. Thanks to advances in science, since 2003 we have known that they are more closely related chats, being cousins of the redstart and stonechat.

UK robins are residents, they don’t migrate abroad and don’t really move far within the UK. They are joined in winter though by robins from Scandinavia. These Continental birds are somewhat paler and, unlike our friendly, conspicuous, robin, tend to be more wary and often stay hidden in cover and prefer woodlands.

I find the robin’s song one of the features that make it so fascinating. It can be heard throughout the year, though only rarely during July and August when the birds are moulting. The winter song is quieter and from January as the males start carving out a breeding territory the song gets much more powerful and confident.

Robins regularly sing at night, one of the few birds that do. It’s not streetlights that cause this but the fact that as its much quieter at night the song is more easily heard.

In winter both sexes hold separate territories and each territory is about half the size of a breeding territory. This is a fact I’ve known for years, but what surprises me is that both sexes sing. So, when I see a singing robin at this time of year there’s a 50/50 chance of it being a female. As both sexes are identical there is no way of my knowing who’s singing.

Local Patch Watcher Ion Riley can often be found with binoculars and camera on Ronkswood Local Nature Reserve.