The dramatic decline of the house sparrow in recent years is pretty common knowledge now I suspect given the amount of publicity it has had. Despite this, the humble 'Cockney Sparra' is still top of the charts and is, apparently the number 1 bird in gardens.
Although the numbers of gardens reporting house sparrows has fallen, where they do occur they are usually pretty numerous. Thirty years ago when the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch began it was recorded from most gardens and the results showed an average of 10.0 per garden; last year, the average was 3.2 per garden. I have to say I have seen very few since arriving in Sidmouth.
The house sparrow is a confident little chap that nothing seems to phase. Bouncy, noisy, quarrelsome, enthusiastic, greedy, messy; surely all adjectives that apply to this rather plain, everyday little bird.
As its name implies it has long been associated with human activity, especially around dwellings where it is happy to scratch a living from just about anything it can find. It is not a fussy eater! It must surely be a change in our lifestyle that has had such a dramatic effect on the sparrow population. Happily, the figures seem to show that the decline has halted in recent years and there may even be a hint of a recovery but it is far too early to tell for sure.
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