Home Patch (7): LBJ? ... Not Quite

I noticed over at 10,000 Birds that there was a post on the Best Bird of the Weekend. I may be running a few hours late, but that need not stop me from posting my pictures of this LBJ. The bird scuttled in the undergrowth between showers, and at first I thought it was going to be one of the resident Dunnocks. I got my camera out and took the pictures that you see, keeping my distance as the bird was clearly shy, and using my maximum zoom. The bird splashed about in the rain water, before turning to face the window.

It wasn't a Dunnock, but it took me a while to realise that ...

... this fluffy little bird would soon fall out of the LBJ category for it was in fact ...

... a young British Robin!

It was hopping about in the company of its father, who kept a certain distance, presumably so that the youngster would begin to gain a measure of confident independence. Adolescent birds lose their speckles at the age of about 2 months and only gain their highly visible feathers of resplendent red once these creatures are of an age to handle territorial squabbles and boundary disputes!

The one in the photos above may be the first juvenile Robin I have ever seen or noticed. I shall continue to watch its progress with interest - and, who knows, if it stays around in the garden, it may soon feel able to venture out from the cover of the twigs and brambles and show off its fiery adult plumage. 

More about the Robin ...

• British Garden Birds
• Simon Litten's Robin with Attitude
• The Robin in Life and Literature (remember the robin companion of Mary Lennox, Colin Craven and Dickon in 'The Secret Garden'?) 

STOP PRESS: I posted this with an anecdote in mind from a new book by USA poet-playwright John Dotson. John's latest publication, entitled Love for Ever Meridian and subtitled Finding Dylan Thomas in the 21st Century charts the author's 2007 journey to South Wales, where I lived for 19 years. John explored the Swansea and Laugharne area in the footsteps of Dylan  and in the company of Peter Thabit Jones, editor of The Seventh Quarry, and Dylan's daughter, Aeronwy. You can read more about the book here ... and if you decide to acquire a copy, you will find the robin episode on p.61!