Hi Sandra and welcome from me way down south in Berkshire.
I can understand you feel a bit overwhelmed by having so many Sparrows. On the other hand you are doing your bit in helping to conserve this bird which has declined so much in many areas.
What food do you put out and how do you provide it? Hanging feeders or on the ground?
I'm wondering whether you could find food that the Sparrows are not so keen on. Nyger seed, for example, is attractive to finches but less so to Sparrows I think.
Otherwise I'm not sure what to suggest. Other people may have some ideas.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Hi Sophie and welcome from Mitcham in Surrey. I have a colony of up to a hundred House Sparrows here. I don't have many Finches other than Goldfinches. The Goldies love Niger seed but I can't say I've seen other Finches eating it though. The Sparrows will eat pretty much anything that I put out for them, either in feeders or on the ground. They don't go near the Niger seed though. If you have Goldies then that might be a solution for them. As TeeJay says, Spadgers are fewer in number than in the past, so you're certainly helping to buck that trend.
Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos
(One bush does not shelter two Robins)
Zenodotus (3rd Century B.C.)
Hi Sandra, I’ve very lucky to have House Sparrows living in my roof and the way I get round the problem of them muscling in on the feeders, is to have various hanging feeders in different places (I have two seed, one fat ball and one mesh feeder with buggy nibbles in, which they love). If you space the feeders quite well apart, it allows birds that have been pushed off of one feeder to go on another and grab some food. Since I’ve been feeding the buggy nibbles, there has been less pressure on the seed feeders, which I’ve noticed I’m getting a greater variety of birds on. Glad the Sparrows are doing so well in your area.
Debs has made a good point about providing alternative feeding points and something which Sparrows really like. They certainly go for suet nibbles in a big way. However, they can be rather expensive especially when they are devoured quickly. A cheaper alternative which many on this forum provide is homemade pastry. I make it with plain flour, lard/beef suet (no salt though). I usually mix it with blitzed up sunflower hearts and peanuts and just enough water to make a stiff dough.. As you can see the Sparrow likes it as do many other birds like tits and woodpeckers but not finches.
A bit of distraction feeding, as Debs suggests, might be the answer.
Hi Teejay, thanks for the reply. I do both,feeders hung up but also put seed on the floor for the ground feeding birds. I recently forked out for starling proof feeders, 2 , to stop the starlings, got loads of them too. Now the sparrows have the sunflower hearts all to themselves, gotta laugh I must have mutant sparrows because mine love Niger seed.
Hi Monkeycheese
Thanks for replying. My sparrows love Niger, poor little goldfinches hop around waiting for their turn which never comes. Yes I should not complain as I was trying to help the sparrows and it certainly worked
Hi Debs,
Thanks for the info. I tried moving the feeders. I put an accessible feeder and a fat ball feeder away from the starling proof feeders, thinking the starlings and the sparrows would be lured away, and leave the fiches in peace. The green finches come and look at that feeder but don't seem to like it, and it is always full of, you guessed I'm sure ... Sparrows. Buggy nibbles? I'll have to look them up. Although I' m spending a small fortune in food as it is, maybe worth a try.
Hi Sandra, It seems that you’ve tried a lot of ideas already. The buggy nibbles are really popular with my House Sparrows, and they only seem to revert to the seed feeders when the nibbles have gone. A medium mesh feeder can last two to three days in my garden, depending on what turns up and I buy a box of nibbles, which is the most cost effective. I’ve added links to our on line shop, where you can view the food and feeder.
shopping.rspb.org.uk/.../buggy-nibbles.html
shopping.rspb.org.uk/.../rspb-premium-nut-nibble-feeder-medium.html
Oh thanks so much for the recipe. That would cut down on cost because it is getting silly the amount I'm spending on bird food. I will certainly give it a try. Does it matter How much flour you put in, I guessing not too much?
Aside from the sparrows we seem to be inundated with Hooper swans and Grey lag geese flying over, never seen so many swans before. I love seeing them.
That must be quite a sight and sound!