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Ma Frien'The Robin

Ma Poem Fur A Wee Burd That Visits Me Every Year

Ma Frien'

Ma frien' the robin brings delicht
On winter morn an summer nicht,
Intae ma garden it flees free
An sits on ma wee apple tree,
Watchin every move a make
Watin' fur ma hame made cake.

A cheeky wee thing, thats fur sure,
Bobbin' aboot sae self asure,
Chasin a' the birds awa'
Wha dare tae come: Or dare tae craw,
It stauns its full three inches high
Its totty wee heid streechin tae the sky.

He's the maister o' his bit
Sic a wee thing, an' haurdly fit,
Tae staun up tae the bigger yins
Wha' pester him fur a' his sins,
Come rain, or shine, or wind ,or snaw
He's ma frien', Aye!! he's jist sae braw.

By Anne MacGregor year 2001

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Robins are one of our favourite images for Christmas.  They appeared on Christmas cards when we first started sending them in around 1860.  Victorian postmen, who wore red uniforms, were nicknamed "Robins" and the first

Christmas cards depicted real Robins delivering cards in the guise of postmen. But Britain's favourite bird had yuletide connections long before the Victorians commandeered him for Christmas.  The red-breasted Robin has been celebrated as a bird of mid-winter cheer for hundreds, and possibly thousands, of years back into Pagan times.  Like the holly wreath with its splash of scarlet against dark green foliage, the Robin has provided mankind with colour and a welcome hint of warmth in the icy dark of winter. Little wonder they are such enduring symbols of Christmas and winter cheer. With thanks to Birds Brittanica by Mark Cocker and Richard Mabey for being a mine of information about birds in our folklore.