House Sparrows in the Snow

On the plus side Sparrow, if they get up what's on the ground you don't get left with a grande scale mess when the snow is gone.  You should see our garden now the snow has gone, it is the most frightful mess and I don't know how I'm going to get it up!

My Sparrows are trickling back in slowly and they haven't been deterred by having a hungry Sparrowhawk's talons hurtling in their direction this morning!

I'm going to fill 2 feeders with sunflower mix and 2 feeders with the other mix that I've ordered and see how I get on.

I do think its funny how their behaviour has changed - I could talk about them all day!

Hi Paul. No plus side I'm afraid. Even the sparrows can't keep up with the awful mess.

I have started a new thread about it.

I'm pleased your sparrows are trickling back - and didn't provide your sparrowhawk with breakfast!!!

What fantastic pictures.

Unfortunately for me I don't seem to have any sparrows in my garden. I've spent a long time watching to see I can spot the odd one, but to no avail.

I had reason to wait around in 2 different stations in Paris last year.  I was surprised to see in both cases quite a large group of sparrows flying around, helping themselves to crumbs from people's sandwiches, their chirping amplified by the stations' acoustics!  This is a sight I remember from years ago in this country - in parks and stations etc. - but seems sadly to be lacking now.  Surely conditions in towns haven't changed that much?  (Having said that, I have a healthy population of them in my urban garden now, but for several years they were almost entirely absent.)

Hi Buzzard, Loved your shots of the sparrows. They are the predominant visitors to my garden and I think the females are lovely. I would love to able to take close up shots of the birds and wondered if you knew of a 'cheep' web site that sells telefoto lenses. I am going up to the Highlands of Scotland later on this year and hope to get some good snaps of the local wildlife.

Hi Emma, love the foto of your dog! Which part of the 'bonnie braes' ur ye fae. I can't believe there's no sparrows in your part of the glen.

Gaellus said:

Hi Buzzard, Loved your shots of the sparrows. They are the predominant visitors to my garden and I think the females are lovely. I would love to able to take close up shots of the birds and wondered if you knew of a 'cheep' web site that sells telefoto lenses. I am going up to the Highlands of Scotland later on this year and hope to get some good snaps of the local wildlife.

 

Hi Gaellus,

Telephoto lens and cheap. Unfortunately the two don't go together.

Without knowing what you are looking for Eg: make and model etc I can't give much advice.

You could try Preloved a website that allows sellers to advertise things that they no longer want. It is a bit like ads in newspapers and what you see on those little cards in supermarkets.

You can occasionally pick up the odd bargain.

The site I use to compare prices and get most of my bargains from is

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/index.html

Hope this helps

Regards Buzzard

Hi Sparrow, I've been following your dialogue with Paul, I too noticed strange behaviour in the sparrows. last week they didn't touch the suet balls etc. but were voracious for the seed, even that on the ground. This week they are fighting over who gets a turn on the suet balls and neglecting the seed. Strange indeed.

Thanks Buzzard, I'd need an A level to understand all that stuff. I've got a Canon Powershot A640 and wanted a wee telefoto lens to get  close up pics.