Hi all, just joined up and looking forward to sharing in all the fun. the main reason for joining is i've discovered we have a family of house sparrows living in our loft. And as I understand it they are in serious decline? is there a register that i should be adding my findings to?
Hi John
Thanks for posting! House sparrows are still a common and widespread species but their numbers are greatly reduced compared with a few decades ago. Whilst there is no formal recording scheme for their nesting sites, we do encourage people to note down breeding bird records on the Birdtrack website.
Lack of nesting sites has been suggested as a possible issue with their success but greater concern surrounds the loss of greenspace in urban areas as this limits their feeding opportunities during the spring and summer. House sparrows feed their young on insects, typically found in lawns, hedges and borders, without these green features (or if these green areas are hit hard with garden chemicals), young sparrows don't get the nutrition they need.
The best ways to help are to make sure that the sparrows have somewhere to nest, lot's of wildlife friendly areas to feed in the garden and to avoid garden chemicals. Let us know how they get on this year, March is usually the start of a long and hectic breeding season for them!
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Hi John welcome to the community from Sheffield.
As you and Ian have said they are in serious decline, i'm lucky enough to have good numbers in the garden, it was only when i joined the community i found some people never see any.
Hope to hear more from you.
Regards Alan
My photos are on Flickr and Website
Thats great, thanks for the info, Our garden backs on to Wanstead flats which is around 330 acres of brush/playing feilds, some forest and a few ponds, so probably ideal habitat, i'll keep an eye on the sparrows and keep you posted.
You should get some decent birds in habitat like that.
we have them in our loft area above the bedroom.I am sure they are wearing tackity boots. what a racket they make. great wee characters though.
Hi John, welcome from us in Scotland, hope you enjoy it here :-) That's brilliant to hear about your sparrow family, looking forward to any updates you have later on! :-)