Selected as a Book of the Year 2017 in The Times
'There is no doubt that Moss's book, with its charming cover and
quaint illustrations, will make it into many a stocking this year'
The Times
No other bird is quite so ever-present and familiar, so embedded in
our culture, as the robin. With more than six million breeding pairs,
the robin is second only to the wren as Britain's most common bird. It
seems to live its life alongside us, in every month and season of the
year. But how much do we really know about this bird?
In The Robin Stephen Moss records a year of observing the robin both
close to home and in the field to shed light on the hidden life of this
apparently familiar bird. We follow its lifecycle from the time it
enters the world as an egg, through its time as a nestling and juvenile,
to the adult bird; via courtship, song, breeding, feeding, migration -
and ultimately, death. At the same time we trace the robin's
relationship with us: how did this particular bird - one of more
than 300 species in its huge and diverse family - find its way so
deeply and permanently into our nation's heart and its social and
cultural history? It's a story that tells us as much about ourselves
as it does about the robin itself.
