Robins are inquisitive and trusting birds and with a little TLC, some perseverance and some yummy tempting food ( especially of the wriggling variety! ) you can encourage them to feed from your hand, which is always thrilling when it happens. We shouldn't lose sight of how much we can do to help our garden birds, particularly by feeding them bird food of the highest quality, and please don't worry - it is impossible to help too much!

Food that we put out will always be a supplement to natural supplies. If nature offers great bounty - the birds will be there! You can see this is true at this time of year when most garden birds desert us in favour of hedgerows full of fruit, berries, seeds and nuts. More...

Papilloma viruses in chaffinches give rise to warty growths - which have colloquially been called "tassel foot", and I think you would agree, looking at the photographs which have been kindly sent to me by David White, it is a very good descriptor.

Papilloma viruses in humans cause skin warts, which are very common but usually resolve spontaneously. In fact, I remember as a child, my Dad 'buying my warts from me' for a 5p (or maybe it was a sixpence?) - and magically they used to vanish! I think he just got his timing about right. More...