It comes to something when I do a post about the humble House Sparrow and how 'excited' I was when this male came to the feeders in the back garden, but it just goes to show the sorry state that this little bird is in.
This bird used to be everywhere, in every garden of every house in the land. Not any more. Young sparrows are not surviving to adulthood, which has caused a decline of over 50% in the last 25 years. Reasons for this are not fully known, although there are various theories. Cat predation, Sparrowhawk predation, autumn sown crops leading to lack of stubble in the winter, have all been blamed, even traffic pollution in towns and cities which may affect the invertebrate population on which the young feed. One thing is for sure, if this decline is not addressed our little 'cockney' Sparrow will soon be a thing of the past.
