House Sparrows

Hiya,

I'm Debbie and I'm new to the forum. I study Marine & Natural History Photography at University College Falmouth. For my final year I have decided to base my project on the sadly declining House Sparrow and their relationship with humans ... 

I have done a so much research and photographic work on these species of birds but my question is, are they known to be aggressive in the UK? I have been reading about much trouble they pose on native species in the US and wondered if the UK have a similar situation with them?

I however have grown quite fond of the species and enjoy photographing them in a town called St Ives! Here are a couple of snaps:

  • i have over 45 house sparrows come to my garden those numbers swell once the juniors fledge, i put out a regular supply of seeds and peanuts and black sunflower seeds, i create wild patches to increase insects numbers which is what sparrows need to feed their young, i also have been adding to my log pile this also creates a habitat for many insects which birds feed on. i have also planted a lot of red hot pokers which i have seen house sparrows eat the seeds and insects in them. house sparrows do squable and argue just like what we do. the house sparrows that come to my garden really show their appreciation as when i was filling up the empty feeder the were tweeting away with joy as soon as i have gone into the house they are on the feeders i can watch them on the tv thanks to feeder cam which i bought from aldi last year. for the first time i have nesting sparrows in my camera nest box also bought from aldi, there has been some squables over the nest box but a male and female sparrow have claimed it and after many nest material theft the male and female sparrow stood their ground and there nest is now complete.

  • I have sparrows next door ...roof same place as last year .they make a lovely racket

  • Hi! I'm in Oxford, pretty near the centre, and I have tons (well, about 20-25) of sparrows that visit every day, and I love to see them. They do squabble a *lot* (at prime feeding times, the surrounding bushes sound like I imagine a box of excited mice would sound) and they sometimes put on displays (they loiter around the bird bath, but they won't actually *go* until a blue/great/coal tit does - and although people say coal tits are shy, in my garden, they are the brave adventurers, lol!) I don't know if they breed a bit later than the blue tits, but certailnly, the bts have taken over the sparrow terraces, and the starling boxes. I'm hoping there won't be carnage in a few weeks :(

    I have to say, that in terms of staking out their feeding areas, roosting etc, the sparrows are very noisy, but do very little. After several months in the garden, they will happily feed 50cm from me, but the bts, gts, cts, robins, dunnocks etc, have been far more confident, for weeks, and most will eat from my hand!

    I read something about this sparrow (and starling) trapping, it is very sad, but it seems that they were introduced to NA before people realised quite how adaptable these lovely little birds would be... I can't imagine how nasty it would be to have to remove sparrows for native birds.

    For me, sparrows are the  loveliest birds - they make lots of noise, and perhaps are not that tuneful (especially when they wake you up before dawn) and they are "little brown birds" (the best of all birds, I'm biased) - I always think of their feathers as little tweed jackets - and mine hang around in gangs. But even the tiniest blue tit can scare them off; and my gang is being terrorised by a very fat blackbird at the moment. Every time he appears, they all disappear into the twig heap I made for them.

    In the UK, clearly they are not staking their claims too well, I don't know whether blue tits are moving into their territory or what? I spend a lot of time in Germany, and at least can report that the sparrows there are very quiet, fat, well-housed, and numerous...

  • Anyone know anyone breeding house sparrows to release ?? Simon R