Early UK emigrants liked familiar things and among their home comforts, took house sparrows with them as they boldly went to conquer new worlds. They effectively made the humble cockney sparra a global species. House sparrows are now common across most of the world, especially the America's, where they continue to flourish. Not so in the London grounds of the US Ambassador's home.
Winfield House, near London Zoo, sits in twelve-and-a-half acres of grounds and was given to the US Government by W H Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton after the Second World War. To cut a long story short, Ambassador Louis Susman invited a small group of RSPB Wildlife Explorers to help survey his garden for the Big Garden Birdwatch.
As I've mentioned many times before, house sparrows are almost extinct in central London, so I was hoping we'd find a surviving colony in the Ambassador's garden. There are wooded areas, long grass, plenty of shrubs, lots of seeds and berries and plenty of last season's dead plant growth where insects can overwinter. Put another way, ideal conditions for sparrows, but no sightings.
Stephen Crisp has been looking after the gardens there for twenty-four years and has been doing his best for wildlife. There are sightings of hedgehogs, rabbits, bats, owls and the inevitable fox. Our Wildlife Explorers counted seventeen different bird species over the hour-long birdwatch, including a fieldfare, great spotted woodpeckers and an abundance of long-tailed tits.
There are peregrines nearby and occassionaly fly over the garden. It wouldn't surprise me to discover that they rest on the minaret of the Central London Mosque, which overlooks the grounds. Again, I've said it before, but we have more peregrines now living in London than you'll find in the Peak District uplands - the traditional home of peregrines. This worrying fact helped drive our campaign for birds of prey laws to be better enforced to stop peregrines, hawks and eagles from continued persecution. This campaign saw us hand in a petition signed by 210,567 people to Environment Minsiter Huw Irranca-Davies, aided by a 70 strong band of volunteers.
With a growing number of peregrines in London, there's an increasing likelihood that they will at some point come in to conflict with people. Peregrines and their nests are heavily protected by law. So, if they decide to nest on a building it can have implications for maintenance of air-conditioning units, window cleaning or repairs to rooftop kit such as mobile phone masts.
We've helped create a partnership of people, including the Metropolitan Police's Wildlife Crime Unit, that aims to offer the best advice on living alongside peregrines in London. The idea is to help manage the birds so that any impact is minimised and that the people in the building can enjoy the experience of being so close to these amazing birds. If you have any queries on peregrines, contact us, but the wildlife crime unit should be the first port of call if you come in to contact with a peregrine or discover some nesting on your balcony or roof.