Before Dunnocks were called Hedge Sparrow (or the other way round?) maybe House sparrows were called it? We have had a few interesting reports from both our Weymouth reserves of House Sparrows taking nesting material into hedgerows and bushes. We are all aware of the Sparrows devastating decline in recent years even though they are still doing Ok in Dorset. One of the main contributing factors to their decline is lack of nesting sites. Traditionally they have nested in holes in roofs, so with modern housing estates appearing in our countryside you may think this might help the sparrow? Wrong!
Modern housing is just too well built for the poor sparrow to nest in. Roofs are completely sealed off offering them with no nesting opportunities. So are our Weymouth sparrows starting to adapt and nest in hedges? I think it needs a little more investigation but it certainly looks like some of them are. I’ll keep you posted......