Where I walk Ollie each day,we go down through a farm and there are dozens of house sparrows feeding at the roadside and in the yard.They are feeding on the spilt grain from the trailers, that bring it in from the fields,and the lorries, transporting it away.As we drive through they fly up into the hedges,noisily chatting away to each other.As you drive around locally you can see numerous little flocks of these birds flying into the hedge from roadsides and crop fields that haven’t yet been ploughed.At this time of the year in particular,it’s hard to believe that the house sparrow population has declined over the last 20-30 years by 70-80%.
Hopefully that decline can be reversed and this ‘little brown job’ will survive,multiply and continue to provide its’ constant,busy little chatter in the countryside.
Here’s a few images.
House Sparrow,m in hawthorn hedge.
House Sparrow,m.
House Sparrow,f amid hawthorn berries.
Scruff.
House Sparrow,f and hawthorn berries.
House Sparrow,m.
