My pet Robin

In my old home, I befriended a robin. I know that if I had spent more time out in the garden, I would have managed to have him feed from my hand. But, finding the time is not easy and I never managed to come closer than arm's reach. Still, I think I had a pretty close relationship with him over the years.
It all started when I was working in the garden, digging our very small vegetable patch or weeding around the flower borders. I could often see him in the corner of my eyes watching me. Occasionally, he would fly past my nose really fast and so close that I would feel the air from his wings. I realised later that I was standing too near "his" Rhododendron and he was only trying to scare me away to protect his territory.
Indeed, Robin had a special place in the garden, right in the middle of our Rhododendron, where he would regularly sing his heart out.
One day, I was working in the vegetable patch and Robin was a couple of metres away from me, perched on a branch of our apple tree. I threw worms at him. He was startled at first but got used to it and just stayed on its perch. I knew he could see what I was throwing because he would lean its body sideways following the worms with one eye.
Despite my efforts, Robin never obliged and ignored my lovely meals.
A while later, I was getting some compost from my compost bin and Robin stood on top of the fence near by. I picked a nice juicy worm from the bin and threw it at him. Then, to my amazement, Robin flew right behind the compost bin and disappeared for a few seconds. He flew back up again and stood on the edge of the bin with a great huge spider in its beak, which he ate in front of me. It was as if he was telling me that his favourite food was nice crunchy spiders, not squashy wet worms.
From that day on, I overcame my aversion to spiders and started looking for them around the garden, lifting pieces of wood and stones, just so I could offer them to Robin to eat.
I would gently squash a spider, place it at the end of a very long wooden stick and wedge it gently on a branch next to him, in the Rhododendron or on the apple tree. This was exhilarating, particularly the first time he picked up and ate the diner I was presenting to him! By that time, I also had him trained to my call, a distinctive clicking noise I would make with my mouth everytime I had food ready for him to eat. He would come to me most times and I think the other times, he was probably too far to hear me. I don't know what happened to Robin. We sold our house about 1 1/2 year ago. I did write a note to the new owners telling them all about Robin but I guess I will never know.