Overview

• Bird specialists highlight sunflower hearts as a highly attractive, nutritious choice that reliably draws robins.
• Robins prefer ground feeding, so use open trays or scatter food on the ground rather than relying on hanging feeders.
• Planting holly, hawthorn, pyracantha, cotoneaster, guelder rose, crabapple, elder or ivy provides berries and protective cover as natural food wanes.
• In colder spells, supplement with mealworms and unsalted crushed peanuts or suet, and offer chopped fruits such as apples or pears.
• Safety advice warns against bread, milk and bulky seed mixes, and urges keeping food dry on covered trays to prevent mould.