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sparrows

No shortage of sparrows in my village I counted 31 the other day on my hedge along with bluetits as well. Shrtage?

  • Lol at John's pics! Blackbird - not to worry, the cats were as bemused as we were, I think! They are both 'indoor' cats so I'm pleased to say don't have the chance to hunt for real (thought the occasional moth, bluebottle and daddy-long-legs tend not to survive for long if they get in the house) ... ;-)

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous 11/09/2009 02:37 in reply to Cartimandua

    Hi John

    Those are cute pictures, and it shows all the Sparrows littlle personalities coming out for us to see all the expressions on their faces say a lot how they feel.

    Great captions too - made me giggle a lot.

    Glad the Cats are indoor Cats because it stops all the bird chasing.  Love cats myself but cats and birds never mix at all.  I am sure that they will chase anything great or small.like you say - wonder what the insects think.

    Regards

    Kathy and Dave

    Cartimandua said:

    Lol at John's pics! Blackbird - not to worry, the cats were as bemused as we were, I think! They are both 'indoor' cats so I'm pleased to say don't have the chance to hunt for real (thought the occasional moth, bluebottle and daddy-long-legs tend not to survive for long if they get in the house) ... ;-)

     

     

  • Hi John

    Just love the photos Sparrows are such little characters.

    Meerkat

     

  • Great pics John!

    We are lucky to have a healthy population in Shropshire too!

  • Lovely photographs John.

    We had a surprise this summer when a pair of sparrows built a nest in one of our tit boxes ( ignoring the sparrow box ). After watching them struggle to enter and exit, we had to enlarge the entrance slightly and we were happy to watch the young chicks successfully fly away.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous 14/09/2009 17:28 in reply to Brenda H

    Hi Brenda

    Yes, it seems that nature has a mindset of its own at times - as we all already know

    So we have to adapt bird boxes to accommodate.our feathered friends on the odd occasion

    Great news to hear that your young Sparrows are healthy and happy.

    Yes they have flown away, and they become the next breeding adults in the future.

    Lovely story.

    Kathy and Dave

     

     

  • Further to our local cat-watching sparrows (one came to have a look at me the other day...), we seem to have something of a sparrow invasion at the moment - I must have counted 40+ in a recent flock that seemed to be jumping from one to another neighbouring gardens hereabouts. Many seem to be juveniles judging by  the males' pale colouring (compared to some of the older, darker ones). So it definitely seems to have been a good breeding year here!

  • Unknown said:

    No shortage of sparrows in my village I counted 31 the other day on my hedge along with bluetits as well. Shrtage?

     

    Who declared a shortage of sparrows? The problem with the UK sparrow population is that they are steep decline - thats not to say at present we are lacking substantial numbers, but if they continue at the current rate of decline they will be in serious trouble within a decade or so..

    Estimates from the BTO and RSPB census data indicate that there are somewhere in the region of 13 million house sparrows within the UK. Which sounds all very well in itself, but this figure indicates a decline of -65% between 1970-2006!

    If a species declines by between -25% & -49% in 25 years it would then be classed as an amber listed species of conservation concern. If a given species declines by more than -50% in 25 years it is then classed as a "red listed species of concervation concern". House sparrows are now regarded as red listed hence the worry.. 

    The recent declines have been attributed to a combination of reduced food availability throughout the year in both urban and rural habitat types, changes in agricultural practices and increased urbainisation and renovations. This has also therefore led to a national reduction in available nesting sites.

  • Worrying figures indeed, Graham. I think the world would not be the same without this chirpy little species which we all take for granted. :-/

  • Loving the photos of the sparrows though very sad to learn of the two baby ones :'-(

    I've had the day off today and have spent most of it in the kitchen with the blinds wide open. Three times today, after absolutely no birds to be seen, a group of about 20 have descended on the garden eating from the feeders and trees, bouncing up and down on the conifer and splashing around in the bath. Some people dismiss sparrows as boring but I find them extremely entertaining and very cheeky.