An Unexpected Treat!

We had a major rarity at the bird feeders today. A statement like that is likely to get the mind all a-buzz with potential exotic species that may occasionally pop up. Did some Waxwings stop by? How about an unusual finch of some sort?

No, our major rarity was probably the last species you would think of; it was House Sparrow. Indeed, three of them, which is even more remarkable. Since we moved into our current house just over a year ago, we've been rather saddened by the complete lack of House Sparrows, chirping cheerfully from the guttering as they have done from pretty much every other place I have ever lived. Much maligned for being a 'pest', our humble House Sparrow is a species in catastrophic decline in the UK, with a number of national research surveys from the RSPB and BTO showing staggering declines over the past 25-30 years and this species is now on the Red List as a species of Conservation Concern.

Changes in agricultural policy as well as the effects of air-borne pollution from traffic are implicated in early work on the reasons for this huge decline but research continues into the reasons which will doubtless involve a number of issues. We sometimes hear one or two House Sparrows at the other end of the village when we go on local walks, but they are scarce enough that they rarely make it down to us and this is only the third time we have recorded them in the garden over the past year.

It does seem telling that at one time, we would fashion nestboxes to be 'sparrow-proof' to keep the little devils at bay, but now you can buy specially-constructed boxes in an effort to try and reverse the decline of this bird that is at one and the same time, much loved, but much maligned.

Three's a crowd! Our House Sparrows today on the fatball feeder (a second male is around the back with his tail sticking out at bottom left).