What Do Robins Eat? Robin Diet and Feeding Guide

Robins eat mostly small invertebrates: beetles, flies, caterpillars, spiders, worms and the like, picked from the ground. In autumn and winter they add berries and other fruit, and in gardens mealworms are especially popular with them. This guide covers what wild Robins eat through the year, which berries they take, what they feed their chicks, and how to feed them safely under the RSPB and BTO advice that changed in 2026.

It is about the European Robin of Britain and Ireland. For the North American bird, see what American Robins eat.

Mainly small creatures. Birds of the World lists beetles and flies of many families, ants, bees, sawflies, grasshoppers, bugs, earwigs, caterpillars and moths, spiders, woodlice, millipedes, centipedes, small molluscs and earthworms, along with fruits and seeds; also very small vertebrates such as fish and lizards, carrion and leftovers.¹ In England, David Lack found that the Robin eats "a great variety of small invertebrates", most of them spotted from a perch as they move about on the ground or in the leaf litter beneath it.²

Most of the prey is small. In north German hedgerows, 80% of the prey items in adult Robins' droppings were 2 to 6 mm long,³ and in Spanish oak woods the commonest size class in winter stomachs, 44% of the prey, was 4 to 6 mm.⁴ The BTO's Gardenwatch survey describes the Robin's preferred natural food as "small beetles and other insects, as well as soil invertebrates such as worms".⁵

The British figures are Lack's prey count from 1948 (we read only his summary) and the Snows' study of fruit, summarised below; the detailed counts of insects and other prey come from Germany, Spain, France and Ukraine. Soft-bodied prey such as worms and caterpillars are hard to identify in stomach and dropping samples, so they are probably under-counted.⁶

Each study is named in the table and listed under Sources.^{7, 8} The German study also calculated that an adult Robin eats some 700 to 750 small invertebrates a day before breeding, about 120% of its body weight.³

In the breeding season, invertebrates make up most of the diet. A BTO review of British farmland birds names caterpillars, ants and their larvae, weevils and leaf beetles as the Robin's most important prey,⁶ and Lack found many looper caterpillars taken in summer.²

Worms are hard to measure in stomachs and droppings, but they are on the Birds of the World list and in the BTO's Gardenwatch summary,^{1, 5} and they made up 0.8% of the items fed to nestlings in the Ukrainian study.⁷

Fruit becomes important in autumn and winter. In the British study of fruit-eating by Barbara and David Snow, as summarised by the BTO, the Robin's main fruits were spindle (21% of the fruit it ate), elder (16%), ivy (12%), dogwood (8%), bramble (5%) and viburnums, mainly wayfaring tree (5%).⁶ The BTO's berry guide adds wild privet, cotoneaster, hawthorn, honeysuckle, pyracantha and, sometimes, rowan, and notes that ivy berries are often among the last fruit left on the bushes in midwinter and early spring.⁹

In southern Spain, fruit formed the bulk of wintering Robins' diet in December, when active insects were scarcest;¹⁰ in southern France, fruit dominated in mid-autumn.⁸ Robins swallow small seeds whole but usually bring up seeds larger than about 2.5 mm (Herrera's own data, reported in that study),¹⁰ and the French study counted the Robin among the main spreaders of the region's fleshy-fruited plants.⁸ Fruit is not enough on its own: in captivity, Robins fed only berries lost weight from the first day and fell ill unless insects were added.¹¹

Holly is not among the fruits that made up more than 5% of the Robin's fruit diet in the British study, though it made up 9% of the Blackbird's,⁶ and the BTO's berry guide names thrushes, Blackbirds, Blackcaps and Woodpigeons, not Robins, as birds that favour holly berries.⁹ The robin with a recorded taste for holly is the American Robin: in Seattle, American Robins made up 96% of 2,796 sightings of birds eating holly fruit.¹²

A Robin hunts mainly by watching. It sits on a low lookout, such as a bush, a branch or a fence, flies down to take prey from the ground, and returns to the same or a similar perch. In colder weather it spends more time hopping about on the ground under cover, and it occasionally sallies after flying insects.¹ In the German study, Robins used horizontal or overhanging twigs over field edges and leaf litter as hunting perches, which gave them a good catch rate while they watched for predators.³

Robins also follow animals that disturb the ground. Birds of the World mentions pheasants and moles, and calls the habit of accompanying gardeners digging "renowned";¹ Lack found that "particularly in hard weather" Robins follow mammals or large birds that turn over the soil.² In Spanish oak woods, wintering Robins waited near feeding Nuthatches and Great Tits to pick up the acorn fragments they dropped, since a Robin's bill cannot break an acorn shell itself.⁴

They start early. In a BTO survey of 3,364 gardens in January 2014, Robins arrived at feeders about 16 minutes after first light, earlier than most other species.¹³ In Norway, Robins were active under street lights before dawn in winter and were seen feeding there, though only in glimpses;¹⁴ Birds of the World notes Robins catching insects by artificial light.

Invertebrates. A BTO review says invertebrates make up most of the diet of nestling Robins, and that some fruit may also be fed to them.⁶ The one measured nestling diet we found, from forests in north-east Ukraine, was 717 food items: mostly insects, with caterpillars and moths the largest group, plus spiders, woodlice and a few earthworms.⁷

If you feed Robins while they have young, soak dried mealworms in water first, which makes them easier for chicks to eat, and avoid bread and other dry, hard foods in spring and summer, which can choke nestlings.¹⁵ For chicks and fledglings, see baby Robins; for nest sites and boxes, see Robin nesting.

Mealworms. The RSPB says they are "especially popular with Robins",¹⁶ and the BTO that "Live foods, such as mealworms, are readily taken by Robins".¹⁷ The Woodland Trust also lists suet, sunflower hearts and crushed peanuts among the foods Robins take.¹⁸ Under the advice the RSPB and BTO introduced in April 2026, mealworms and suet are fine all year in small amounts, while seed and peanuts are for November to April only, to cut the spread of the disease trichomonosis.^{17, 19}

The table follows the RSPB's feeding advice.^{16, 15} A pile of leaves left in a corner of the garden feeds Robins too, by giving them insects to hunt.¹⁹

Yes, though they generally prefer to find their own food. In the BTO's Gardenwatch survey in May 2019, Robins used feeders in 68% of the gardens taking part and natural food in 65%.⁵ In winter they are at almost every fed garden: in the BTO's Garden Bird Feeding Survey for 2016-17, Robins were seen at 241 of 241 sites.²⁰

Use a hanging feeder, or scatter a small amount of mealworms on the ground, no more than is eaten or cleared away by dusk. The RSPB no longer recommends bird tables, window feeders or other flat-surfaced feeders, where disease spreads most, and advises against scattering other foods on the ground.¹⁹

Robins will eat bread at bird tables (Birds of the World says they are very fond of it in northern Europe),¹ but the RSPB advises against bread and other dry, hard foods in spring and summer, when they can choke nestlings, and against loose peanuts at any time.¹⁵ Do not put out anything mouldy or salty.¹⁶

English Robins are unusually tame: Lack noted that the Robin associates with people far more in England than on the Continent.² If you try to tempt one closer with mealworms, keep to small amounts and clear away anything left by dusk.¹⁹

Garden water matters too: in the Gardenwatch survey, Robins used water in 44% of the gardens taking part.⁵ Change bird-bath water every day and clean the bath every week.¹⁹

In North America, "robin" means the American Robin, a larger thrush with a different diet. See what American Robins eat; for the European Robin itself, see our Robin guide.

1. Kirwan, G. M., Collar, N., Goodman, D. D. (2025). European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), version 1.1. Birds of the World (G. M. Kirwan and B. K. Keeney, editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.eurrob1.01.1
2. David Lack (1948). Notes on the ecology of the robin. Ibis 90(2): 252-279. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1948.tb01690.x
3. Bodo Grajetzky (1993). Nahrungsökologie adulter Rotkehlchen (Erithacus rubecula) einer schleswig-holsteinischen Knicklandschaft. Journal für Ornithologie 134(1): 13-24. doi:10.1007/BF01661129
4. Carlos M. Herrera (1977). Ecología alimenticia del Petirrojo (Erithacus rubecula) durante su invernada en encinares del sur de España. Doñana, Acta Vertebrata 4(1-2): 35-59. Accessed 23 October 2026.
5. BTO. Gardenwatch: Robin. British Trust for Ornithology. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source
6. Juliet A. Vickery, Robert J. Fuller (1998). Use of Cereal Fields by Birds: A Review in Relation to Field Margin Managements. BTO Research Report No. 195. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford. Accessed 23 October 2026.
7. A. B. Chaplygina, D. I. Yuzyk, N. O. Savynska (2016). The Robin, Erithacus Rubecula (Passeriformes, Turdidae), As a Component of Autotrophic Consortia of Forest Cenoses, Northeast Ukraine. Vestnik Zoologii 50(4): 369-378. doi:10.1515/vzoo-2016-0043
8. M. Debussche, P. Isenmann (1985). Frugivory of transient and wintering European robins Erithacus rubecula in a Mediterranean region and its relationship with ornithochory. Holarctic Ecology 8(2): 157-163. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.1985.tb01166.x
9. BTO. An ID guide to berries. BTO. Accessed 23 October 2026. Source
10. Carlos M. Herrera (1981). Fruit food of Robins wintering in southern Spanish Mediterranean scrubland. Bird Study 28(2): 115-122. doi:10.1080/00063658109476711
11. Peter Berthold (1976). Animalische und vegetabilische Ernährung omnivorer Singvogelarten: Nahrungsbevorzugung, Jahresperiodik der Nahrungswahl, physiologische und ökologische Bedeutung. Journal für Ornithologie 117(2): 145-209. doi:10.1007/BF01643586
12. Peter F. Zika (2010). Invasive Hollies (Ilex, Aquifoliaceae) and Their Dispersers in the Pacific Northwest. Madroño 57(1): 1-10. doi:10.3120/0024-9637-57.1.1
13. BTO. Early Bird Survey. BTO Garden BirdWatch. Accessed 23 October 2026. Source
14. Ingvar Byrkjedal, Terje Lislevand, Stefan Vogler (2012). Do passerine birds utilise artificial light to prolong their diurnal activity during winter at northern latitudes? Ornis Norvegica 35: 37-42. doi:10.15845/on.v35i0.269
15. RSPB. How and what to feed your garden birds. RSPB. Accessed 23 October 2026. Source
16. RSPB. Bird feeding: what and when to feed. RSPB. Accessed 23 October 2026. Source
17. BTO. Feeding garden birds. BTO. Accessed 23 October 2026. Source
18. Rachel Hoskins (2019). What do robins eat? Woodland Trust. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source
19. RSPB. Ask an RSPB Expert special: All about bird feeding. RSPB. Accessed 23 October 2026. Source
20. BTO (2017). Garden Bird Feeding Survey newsletter, No. 9. British Trust for Ornithology.