That's all changed. The sparrows did quite well in the breeding stakes last year, and seem to have done even better this. Their current numbers may, in part, be due to the lack of a local sparrowhawk but, given the same freedom from predation, the chaffinches haven't done so well.
This group of sparrows lives around the Ferry Stores, and were caught having a dust bath in the road opposite the gas compound. That it was raining at the time seemed not to bother them: they were having fun.
Here at Far View Campsite visitors from England cannot believe the number of sparrows we have. They twitter away in the bushes and clear us out of seed , peanuts and fat balls.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a big increase where I live in Yorkshire too; from having zero sparrows in my garden we now have a lovely little flock of 15+ and increasing every year. It's good to see.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time this year especially these past few weeks that a lovely flock of sparrows visited our garden. I have had to top up the seeds in the feeder and fat balls every two days.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering whether these birds visited our garden because of lack of foods as our town in Rugby seem to be growing with new houses being build every where. Could it be possible that the developers are destroying their foods to a point where they have started to visit gardens in search of foods?
I am not sure how long I can keep up topping up the feeders as wild birds foods do not come cheap.
The sparrow population seems to be recovering everywhere, so I don't think it's the result of changes locally. It always seemed to be a bit of a mystery why they were disappearing, and their return is as mysterious. Anyway - it's good to see them back, though we, like you, could do with a little thinning out by a sparrow hawk. Jon
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