A man’s unusual way of taking photos of robins has earned him thousands of fans online.

Terry Taylor, a retired cabinet maker from Waltham Abbey, entices the red-breasted birds by holding dead meal worms in his hand and mouth.

He has been uploading snaps to Blipfoto and Flickr almost every day since 2007, shortly after losing his wife Marylyn.

Mr Taylor said: “I hold the camera in one hand and food in the other one or hold the meal worms in my mouth.

“I’ll take around seven or eight shots and usually there will be one good photo amongst them that I’ll use.”

The pensioner first started taking photos of butterflies and flowers until robins caught his attention in 2008.

“I was in the park and a robin was in the bush next to me, after that it came back every day, so I named him Max and eventually more began to follow," the 76-year-old explained.

“There is a saying if you see a robin it represents someone who has died trying to contact you.

“Robins only tend to live for around two years, that’s the sad part about it all. They are also very nervous creatures.”

His current muses are Alfie and Molly who visit his nest box garden and Dusty whom he sees over Waltham Abbey Park.

He added: “Alfie and Molly would not come and take a meal worm from me for ages. Then one day out of nowhere they just flew up and took some I left by my window.”

Terry’s photos even caught the attention of BBC2 show Springwatch.

After a researcher spotted his images on Flickr, the eye-catching shots was displayed at the end of the show.

With no special lighting or equipment, the 76-year-old currently uses a Nikon camera with a long zoom to capture the robins up close.

When asked what advice he would give to aspiring wildlife photographers, Mr Taylor said: “Get a good camera and go out and study nature. Also have a lot of patience, once they come to you, you are ok.”