The robin is one of the best-known and best-liked of our songbirds. It is important to have good information on our wild animals (total number, mating, nesting and feeding habits, reproductive rates, etc) in order to understand and protect their place in the environment and to tailor changes in agricultural practices so as to minimise their effects on wildlife. In this respect an important national study was established in 1997 at the Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, University College Cork: The Robin Nest and Habitat Study.
The objective of this study is to collect information on the nesting activities of the robin. The method used is to enlist the help of thousands of volunteer observers around the State to find and observe robins' nests. This study forms part of the PhD programme of work being conducted by Mr Gavin Fennessy under the supervision of Dr Tom Kelly at UCC.
They are interested in recruiting new volunteers to assist with the work and Gavin can be contacted by letter, by phone at (021) 904283 or by e-mail, (robins@ucc.ie).
Volunteers who register with the study are sent a study card on which to record observations. These include the locality of the nest, the height of the nest above ground, the habitat type in which the nest is situated, the nest site position (e.g. hedgerow), dates and times when nest is observed with details of number of eggs, number of young etc. About 6,000 volunteer observers from around Ireland are currently involved with the study (including many whole families) and over 3,000 cards have been sent out. At this stage about 800 completed cards have been returned. The robin (Erithacus rubecula) is widely distributed in European countries but is more common in Ireland and in Britain. We have about four million robins in Ireland. The particular variety found in Ireland and the UK is called Eritheaus rubecula melophilus because of its particularly melodic song.
A robin lives about 1.5 years on average, very many falling foul of predators. In the absence of predators they would probably have a life-span of about five years. Some important natural predators of adult robins are cats and stoats, while cats, rats and magpies prey on young robins.
Our male and female robins look pretty much identical. They pair bond for the breeding season, which lasts from about December to the end of summer. The robin is usually monogamous and will breed two or three times over the season, laying between three and seven eggs per clutch. Over one-third of the clutches never produce fledglings, but in Ireland the other two-thirds have an extremely high success rate. A clutch of four eggs will usually produce four birds.
Robins' eggs are incubated for 12 to 15 days and after another 12 to 15 days the young chicks leave the nest. They are fed insects and worms by the parents for about two weeks after leaving the nest, during which time the chicks stay relatively close to the nest. They are located through their distinctive begging calls.
After pairing, robins share and defend a common territory of somewhere between 1.5 to three acres. Robins generally do not reuse their nest, but build a new one for the next brood. The nest is a cup-shaped, hair-lined structure built on a foundation of moss and dead leaves. Robins use a wide variety of nest sites, from flower pots to holes in walls and hedgerows. It is most important to be cautious and careful when attempting to locate and observe nests. Care must be taken not to make the nest more easily detectable by predators, and not to alarm young chicks which may leave the nest prematurely.
There has been a long history of collecting information on nesting birds in Britain but little work has been done in Ireland. Analysis of nest records in Britain has uncovered large-scale trends. Since the mid-1980s some British birds are breeding two to three weeks earlier on average than previously reported. This changed pattern correlates with increasing a seasonality and the pattern of global warming. It was also noted that birds experiencing a dramatic decline in population could respond to rapidly changing conditions by altering breeding parameters, such as breeding younger.
Recruiting the public to collect data on wildlife over an extended period can produce ecologically important findings. This method is ideally suited for gathering data over a wide geographical area and for establishing baseline statistics that reveal large-scale trends in the longer term.
The method has the added advantage of fostering public interest in nature and transforming this interest into activity. Public assistance with scientific projects such as the Robin Nest and Habitat Study provides lovely opportunities for whole families to co-operate on a project and makes very interesting practical work for school biology projects.
Almost all the public attention on biological research nowadays goes to molecular research. If you are not working at the level of the molecule or the gene, or close to it, you are not seen to be at the "cutting edge". This is where the big research funding is.
At the other end of the scale, more traditional biological studies of animal behaviour and ecology receive relatively little publicity.
This is a pity. Such studies provide vitally important information obtainable in no other way. These studies have the bonus that, by and large, they are relatively inexpensive. This does not mean that they are in any way unsophisticated. The planning of such studies and the analysis and interpretation of the data frequently calls for the highest level of creativity and statistical sophistication. By dwelling over much on molecular research, biology is in danger of missing the wood for the trees.
William Reville is a senior lecturer and director of microscopy at UCC