Robins in the garden

Nothing beats the sight of little Cape Robin Chats hopping around in your garden. Such cheerful little
creatures. As the duck in and out of the garden greenery I always hold my breath willing them to
stay a little longer before flitting off.

Recently I had noticed the robins more frequently than usually and was intrigued. Whilst enjoying
the early evening quiet of my garden a little while ago I saw the robins disappearing into and out of a
large climbing rose. My interest was piqued, what were they up to?

A few days later whilst hand-watering my garden in the evening I noticed the little robins boldly
hopping nearby looking for insects or worms that had been disturbed by the water. Relishing the
moment of them so close I was reluctant to move on and happened to peer into an ornamental
garden lantern hanging under the climbing rose. What a beautiful neat little nest inside there – so
that was what they had been up to!
Later in the week I was able to get another quick peek and was thrilled to see 3 little pale pinkish
eggs tucked into that sweet little well-hidden home! For days I had been hearing the Piet-My-Vrou
calling in the trees around – I think he or she had been looking for that nest too as they like to lay
their own eggs in a Robin Chat’s nest and have the little robin do all the hard work of feeding and
rearing a chick so much bigger than their own. Thankfully this time the potential home invaders had
been outwitted by the clever robins!

Seeing the beauty of new life happening right before our very eyes, watching our boys’ wide-eyed
wonder as the got a quick peek at those three hungry mouths I was so thrilled that we had decided
on a more natural approach to gardening. Organic fertilizers helped keep our worm population
plentiful, no pesticides or herbicides mean a regular supply of creepy crawlies for our feathered
guests and indigenous trees help create that healthy habitat. I really love it when a garden becomes
a wild-life sanctuary, no matter how small that wild-life is!

Before we knew it the nest was empty! Our boys were shocked that in a little over two weeks those
eggs hatched and the babies had fledged already! Incredible how quickly it happens! We haven’t
seen too much of those three little babies but the parents have been very busy looking for food for
them ever since (having three teenage boys I know the feeling!)