News

Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Tree Sparrows: Up-date November 2008

TREE SPARROWS
By Derek Sidebotham

Last winter we started feeding tree sparrows (pictured) on a farm in Worthington. Yellowhammers soon joined the sparrows to feast on the corn we provided. The feeding table was protected from woodpigeons by weld-mesh netting. We also had 10 sparrow nesting boxes erected in two clusters, one on the edge of a copse, and the others on and around farm buildings.

The feeding at the station was continued until well into spring because the continuing cold weather delayed the hatching of insects which are the tree sparrows' and yellow hammers' summer food. Most of the nesting boxes were occupied by a mixture of bird species but the ones on or near the farm building were most successful at attracting tree sparrows with 4 being used by that species. Other tree sparrows also nested in a hollow tree and in the holes of the farm building. It is very difficult to be precise about the breeding success rate but Group members have observed adult birds taking food into the boxes and seen young sparrows in the vicinity.

At the time of writing (second week October) a large flock of very mobile tree sparrows is known to be in the vicinity of the farm but still feeding in the hedges which probably means that there are sufficient insects available. Many of the fields in the Worthington area have also been left as stubble - a source of seed foraged by farmland birds as food in winter - so we have not yet started feeding. All facilities are in place to start feeding again when the weather deteriorates.

We intend to erect a further 4 boxes in the most successful area and to leave the ones in the copse for other species - mainly tits - to use.