Quick answer: robins eat mostly small animals they find on or near the ground, such as beetles, worms, spiders and centipedes, and they add berries and other fruit in autumn and winter. In the garden, mealworms are a particular favourite, and robins also take dried calciworms, suet, a little finely grated mild cheese and fruit. Scatter a small amount of mealworms or calciworms on the ground rather than on a bird table, put out only what is eaten by dusk, and leave out anything salted, bread, milk, desiccated coconut and fat from the roasting tin.
We are an invertebrate shop, not a bird food supplier, but one of the foods on our dry goods shelf is one robins take: dried calciworms. This guide covers what robins eat in the wild, what to put out for them in your garden, how and when to offer it under the bird charities' 2026 advice, what to leave out, and why food on the ground matters for hedgehogs.
What Robins Eat in the Wild
The robin (Erithacus rubecula) is a ground feeder, and most of what it eats is small animals: insects, especially beetles, along with worms, spiders and other invertebrates. The Natural History Museum adds seeds and fruit to the list. A study of robins stopping on the Curonian Spit, on the Baltic coast, during their spring migration found beetles, ants, spiders, centipedes and millipedes as their main prey, all picked from leaf litter and the soil surface. Robins are well known for following gardeners, waiting for a spadeful of turned soil to turn up worms and grubs.
In autumn and winter, robins add more berries, fruit and seeds to their diet.
Do Robins Eat Woodlice?
Not readily. Woodlice live in the same leaf litter as the robin's usual prey, and birds are among the animals that eat them, along with shrews, toads, centipedes and the woodlouse spider; our guide to the animals that eat woodlice covers the rest. But birds take them less readily than most prey. In a study published in 2025, great tits caught from the wild attacked and ate five kinds of woodlice less often than a palatable cockroach, and woodlice carry chemical defences of their own. We found no diet study that puts woodlice among a robin's main foods.
Woodlice earn their place in a garden all the same, breaking down dead leaves and rotting wood, as our guide to what woodlice eat explains.
What to Put Out for Robins
Mealworms and Calciworms
Mealworms are a particular favourite of robins, the Natural History Museum notes, and the RSPB names robins and blackbirds among the ground-feeding birds that love them. They are the one food the RSPB is happy to see scattered on the ground, and it says small amounts can go out all year.
Our dried calciworms are another insect food robins take. They are the dried larvae of the black soldier fly, and robins, blackbirds and tits all eat them. Use them as you would mealworms: a small scatter at a time, cleared by dusk. Our article on how calciworms and mealworms compare sets out the difference between the two.
Suet and Fat Balls
Suet and fat balls can also go out all year in small amounts, says the RSPB, and robins pick up the crumbs that fall from a fat ball feeder. The RSPB says suet should be eaten within seven days, so if yours lasts longer, put out less.
Cheese and Fruit
Older BTO advice lists finely grated cheese and chunks of windfall fruit among good winter foods, and robins will take a little mild grated cheese. Here the advice has moved on: the RSPB's newer guidance is to scatter only mealworms on the ground, because other foods are not eaten as quickly. If you offer cheese or fruit, keep it to a pinch or a few pieces at a time and lift what is left the same day.
Seed
Seed and peanuts are now a winter food only. The RSPB and the BTO both ask for them to be paused from 1 May to 31 October, to slow the spread of disease among finches.
Soaked or Dry?
In autumn and winter, dried mealworms and calciworms can go out dry. In spring and summer, when adults may carry them to their chicks, soak them in warm water first, which softens them and puts back some moisture. Soak only what will go that day, because damp food spoils, and clear anything left by dusk.
How to Offer It
In 2026 the RSPB and the BTO changed their advice on feeding garden birds, to slow the spread of trichomonosis, a disease behind steep falls in greenfinches and chaffinches. For robins, that means:
- No bird tables or trays. The RSPB now advises against feeders with flat surfaces, including bird tables, window feeders and feeders with trays, because disease spreads more easily where food collects.
- A small scatter on the ground. Robins feed on the ground anyway, and the RSPB's advice is that mealworms are safe to scatter there in small amounts.
- Little and often. Put out only what the birds will eat that day. If food is still there at dusk, lift it and put out less next time.
- A different spot each week. The RSPB asks for feeders to be cleaned and moved every week, and the BTO advises against feeding in the same place for long periods, so move your scatter around the garden too.
- Fresh water. Change the water in a bird bath every day and clean the bath at least once a week.
When to Feed Robins
Winter is when garden food counts most. The RSPB calls food critical in winter, especially for young birds facing their first one, and the Natural History Museum notes that a robin can use up to a tenth of its body weight on a cold night just keeping warm. Most British robins stay put through the winter, and both males and females hold a patch of their own and mark it with song, which is why robins are among the few garden birds you hear singing in midwinter. The robin on your lawn in January could be a female holding her own territory.
Robins usually start nesting in March, and the Natural History Museum says they raise at least two broods a year. Small amounts of mealworms, calciworms, suet or fat balls can carry on through the breeding season, soaked as above, while seed and peanuts wait until November.
What Not to Put Out
- Anything salted. Salt is harmful to birds, so leave out salted nuts, salty leftovers and anything covered in gravy.
- Bread as a regular food. Robins are insect-eaters, and bread is no substitute for the foods above, so it is best left out.
- Milk. Birds cannot digest it, and it can make them seriously ill.
- Desiccated coconut. It swells when it takes up water, and charity advice is to leave it out.
- Fat from the roasting tin. Cooked fat smears onto feathers and spoils their waterproofing and insulation.
- Damp or mouldy food. Lift anything left wet, especially after rain.
- Seed and peanuts from May to October. Keep them for November to April.
Food on the Ground: Hedgehogs and Hens
Anything put on the ground for robins is there for other animals too. The RSPB's advice to clear uneaten mealworms by dusk came from hedgehog rehabilitators, worried about hedgehogs eating what the birds leave. Hedgehog rescues advise against mealworms for hedgehogs, and many advise against calciworms as well, so put out only what the birds will clear by dusk, lift anything left, and never put mealworms or calciworms out as food for hedgehogs.
The same goes for backyard hens. UK feed rules do not allow dried insects, mealworms and calciworms included, to be fed to farmed birds, and that includes backyard hens, so scatter the robins' share where hens cannot get at it.
Robins Are Wild Birds
In Great Britain, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects robins, like all wild birds, along with their eggs and their nests while in use or being built. If a pair nests in your garden, watch from a distance and leave the nest alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a robin's favourite food?
Mealworms, which the Natural History Museum calls a particular favourite. In the wild, robins eat mostly beetles, worms, spiders and other small invertebrates, with berries in winter.
What can I feed robins in winter?
Mealworms or dried calciworms scattered on the ground in small amounts, suet, and a little finely grated mild cheese or fruit. From 1 November, seed such as sunflower hearts can go back in your feeders.
What foods should robins avoid?
Anything salted, bread as a regular food, milk, desiccated coconut, fat from the roasting tin, and damp or mouldy food.
Do robins eat woodlice?
Not readily. Birds do eat woodlice, but in a 2025 study great tits took them less readily than palatable prey. Beetles, spiders, worms and centipedes are the robin's usual prey.
Should I soak mealworms for robins?
In autumn and winter they can go out dry. In spring and summer, soak dried mealworms or calciworms in warm water first, put out only what will go that day, and clear anything left by dusk.
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