Robins of Eden Wild

The robin. Britain's national bird.

Inquisitive, bright-eyed...

and naturally tame.

Our quintessential garden treasure and beloved Christmas icon.

Behind the romantic image though,

winters for small birds are often far from festive.

Even fiery red feathers can't save them from the iciest of nights.

A few fly south, but most stay home for Christmas,

despite risking their life in the cold.

Imagine if there was an English country garden

where it was warm all year round.

Well, for a lucky few, the fantasy has come true.

They found an unexpected robin heaven in the garden of Eden.

The Eden Project, architectural marvel.

A botanical space port in a Cornish quarry.

Thanks to its futuristic biomes,

it's many worlds in one.

Home to a fabulous collection of plants,

a floral extravaganza from all around the world.

This was all designed and planned.

A place for humans and plants to grow and flow together.

But who could have guessed that this Eden

would be gatecrashed in quite such a charming way?

Bright-eyed interlopers with a touch of Mary Poppins.

Christmas time is a busy time for both humans and the small birds.

They seem so happy and sing so loudly that some visitors think

there's piped birdsong being played.

But it's the robins proclaiming to each other

that they are now ready to breed.

After all, Christmas is the season to be merry,

a chance to celebrate together. And for robins,

it's the time to flirt, find a mate and set up home together.

If they need a break, Eden's humans lay on entertainment for them.

Not many other robins get to star in their own, real-life Christmas card.

As winter slides into spring...

Eden is transformed.

There are riots of colour, both inside and out.

Lots more people arrive just when the robins are looking for some privacy.

Male and female robins look identical.

Only by watching their behaviour can you tell the sexes apart.

If you see a robin making a nest, then you know she's a she.

Only hens are homemakers.

It's only the females who are courted by being fed, too.

One of the reasons robins are so endearing

is that couples set up home in the unlikeliest of places.

One pair have settled in part of a daffodil display.

Robins waste no time when it comes to breeding.

Their eggs hatch in around two weeks

and the young leave the nest about a fortnight later.

Soon, fluffy fledgings teeter about amongst the agaves.

A surprising scene in a plant from Mexico.

By high summer, the borders and bedding schemes of Eden

are truly heavenly.

The paths soon turn into rivers of people.

But while it might be a delight for humans,

how do the crowds affect the robins?

Happily, British robins are the friendliest in the world.

You might be surprised to learn that, in Europe,

robins are shy, retiring and rare by comparison.

It's only in Britain that they have lost their fear of man.

Even our name robin is a pet name from the mists of our folklore.

There are around 10 million alive today,

far more than there were thousands of years ago.

It was our national love of gardening that helped them.

Robins need dense, low vegetation in which to live and breed.

Gardeners like a bit of privacy too,

so they often plant dense hedges and borders.

We Brits even feed hungry birds in winter, too.

The different garden spaces of the Eden Project

along with the human visitors and their picnic scraps do the same,

except on a very grand scale.

This futuristic oasis has everything robins need to thrive.

No wonder the gardens of Eden were so cheekily invaded.