Flying visitors

I've noticed that ‘my’ robin spends quite a lot of time contemplating the world!  Or maybe he’s just trying to keep out of the wind.  He will disappear in the Spring, no doubt, and I sometimes wonder where he goes.  The answer, according to something I read the other day, is that he probably goes further than I think.  Because I see robins all the year round I tend to think of them as permanent residents but apparently they actually migrate.  Not for thousands of miles like swifts or swallows, but certainly for tens or even hundreds, moving south for the winter and returning to their home territories to breed.  One robin was tracked crossing from the South of England to France, returning home the following Spring via Belgium, crossing the North Sea in around five hours.  What a journey that must have been!  I do hope he encountered kindness while he was away from home...

So make ‘your’ robin welcome - he may a stranger in these parts!

Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter 4:9

Let love be without hypocrisy.  Abhor what is evil.  Cling to what is good.  Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honour giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Romans 12:9-13