News archive

Tuesday, 22 April 2008

Tree Sparrows - Up-date

The feeding and nest box scheme for tree sparrows at a farm in Worthington got off to a good start in February. Tree sparrows were soon seen in the area with the maximum recorded being 12. It had been recommended, by the RSPB Lancashire Farmland Birds' Team, that feeding should stop at the end of March to encourage the birds to turn to their spring diet of insects but due to the cold snap at that date feeding has been extended until the end of April.

By mid March the tree sparrows were taking an interest in some of the 10 nesting boxes erected.

Interestingly, yellowhammers, another red listed species, are also being regularly seen at the feeding station, with a maximum of 12 reported on the field margins nearby.

How things change - a copy of the Wigan RSPB Local Group Newsletter of November 1980 has just come into my hands and it contains an interesting request for members to provide nesting boxes to be erected at the Arley Nature Reserve in the Worthington Reservoirs' complex. Not an unusual request, one might think, until you realise that boxes must be reinforced with metal around the entrance hole to prevent enlargement by tree sparrows. How times change!