Sep 5th, 2019

Author: donich_admin

Robin Orangebreasts

I would not have believed this, but J, who is the source of all general knowledge (I noticed this when we were on the Camino and he was a fount of information about a) religion b) architecture c) Spanish history) informed me that robins do not in fact have red breasts, but are orange. The reason they are called “Robin Redbreasts” is that prior to the introduction of oranges (the fruit) to the UK in 17th century there was no such colour as orange known. Even more interestingly, the Romans had oranges in Britain in the first century AD, but they (the fruit, not the Romans) then didn’t come back for 1500 years.

The unfortunate thing about all of this is that the little robin in Schrodi’s garden of remembrance is getting a bit faded and I have just bought a pot of bright red enamel paint for it. I will need to get some orange paint instead.