There have been recent sharp decline of the sparrow (house sparrow), which was once a very familiar bird but they have even disappeared from some parts of Britain. These beautiful little birds were perhaps taken for granted at one time because they were so common, but now we must look after them. At only 15 cm in length, they have a wingspan of between 21 to 25 cm. The male has a chestnut brown back with black streaks, while its under parts, rump and crown are a beautiful blue, grey colour. This sounds a little bit drab, that there is nothing beige about the Sparrow if you look closely. The nape is chestnut brown and its cheeks are dull white and they have a black eye stripe and bib and with their light wing bar, they are very noticeable. The beak is a yellow brown colour in winter but this changes to black in the summer and its legs pale brown.

The female is a little bit paler than the male and lacks the grey crown, white cheeks, black eye stripe but it does have a straw coloured stripe behind the eye. Juveniles look very similar to the adult female and the size of the baby indicates the dominance of the male bird within its own community – The bigger the bib, the more dominant the bird. The male house sparrow is sometimes confused for a tree sparrow, which is less stocky. The male and females are alike and have a chocolate brown crown and white neck band and collar.

The song of the sparrow is simply an incessant collection of their calls, which comprise various cheeps and chirps and is unmistakable once you have heard it sing.  House sparrows diet is very diverse and he will eat seeds, nuts and scraps from the bird feeder but will also forage for berries, flower buds, and insects.

If you are lucky enough to have Sparrows who visit your garden, then they will eat just about anything such as sunflower hearts, high energy seed, peanuts, suet, and kitchen scraps. There has been research recently in the Garden Bird Watch Handbook, where 835 different types of food was found in the dissected stomachs of house sparrows! During the spring they can be a little bit of a nuisance because they often damage plants with yellow flowers, such as crocuses but these reasons are yet unknown.

House sparrows live in colonies around people and nest in holes or crevices in buildings, or it’s possible to see them among creepers growing on buildings. They are messy little dwellers, and the nest is an untidy domed or cup shaped structure usually made of rubbish such as paper, straw and string. They will readily use nest boxes provided and they can occasionally bully tits that are already nesting.

The eggs are white with grey or blackish speckles, and are gloriously glossy and smooth. They are about 23 mm x 16 mm and weigh one 10th of an ounce, or about 3 g. Breeding starts in May, and it’s possible they may have three clutches in the year, with about 3 to 5 eggs. The incubation days range between 11 and 14 and the young fledge between 11 and 16 days. The female and the male take turns incubating the eggs, but the female does the majority share. To be fair to the male, both adults feed the young.

House sparrows are among the most sedentary of British birds with even the young ones nesting not too far from their parents, thus, swelling the colony and it’s often you will have several sparrows visits all at once. In late summer, after the breeding season has finished, house sparrows often disappear from their colonies for a few weeks to feed on grain and weed seeds in any farmland nearby all grassland areas.

Unfortunately now the sparrow is on a red list by the RSPCA, owing to its serious decline of over 60% in its population over the last 20 to 30 years. The reason for the decline is not totally known, although several theories suggest that there is something in unleaded petrol, which affects the abundance of insects for feeding the house sparrow young. Autumn sown cereal crops leave little stubble for them nowadays to forage in or spilt grain to glean any goodness from. There is also an increasing number of cats and modern buildings have fewer holes and crevices where the birds can nest. Also, the popularity of coloured doves means they compete for a greater share of the same food types as sparrows.

During winter, house sparrows form large social groups and watching them sometimes, it appears that Scout birds leave the group looking for food and when they find it, the group soon follows. If you are lucky enough to get a gang of sparrows in your garden, they are usually very loyal so always keep your bird tables topped up for them, won’t you? We have a huge part to play in helping house sparrows become popular once again, feeding them with any kitchen scraps is so easy to do and can make such a big difference.