It’s strange how attached you can get to the birds that visit your garden, especially to the bird table. Our garden is a wildlife garden with two ponds, plants and flowers for butterflies, plenty of cover for shelter and safety (from cats, magpies and the local sparrowhawk), bat and bird boxes, bird bath and insect hibernation boxes – and of course a bird table. Of all the birds that sometimes visit the garden which may include goldfinch, greenfinch, robin, wren, dunnock, blackbird, and during the summer whitethroat, blackcap and willow warbler, my favourite birds are the house sparrows. We have a changing population of about six to ten pairs. Many of then nest and rear young under the eaves of our cottage. Their antics are a joy to watch, the squabbling, the coming and goings, the jostling on the bird table and the continual striving for hierarchy within the group. The greater the black bib, the higher up the sparrow hierarchy.
*Numbers of house sparrows in rural England have nearly halved while numbers in towns and cities have declined by 60 per cent. Because of these large population declines, the house sparrow is now red-listed as a species of high conservation concern. So when they suddenly disappear from the garden in mid to late summer it becomes a cause for concern as I gaze out forlornly at an almost empty bird table, other than a stalwart dunnock. Not a house sparrow in sight. Could it be they disperse into the countryside for a while?
But then after weeks of a sparrow-less garden ‘The Boys are Back in Town’ (and girls). Like magic they are appearing, sometimes one, then two and then four – but their numbers appear to be growing, the wait is over, we are back to the shenanigans of the house sparrow soap opera, or at least I hope we will be very soon.
My main problem now is a capricious grey squirrel that has suddenly taken up residence in our and nearby gardens – already my peanut holder is in tattered ruins!
*See house sparrows on RSPB website.
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