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HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BIRD?

Ten million House Sparrows gone missing, including the pocket in Hofland Road.
Position Species Reporting
Rate
1 Blue Tit 90.6
2 Blackbird 84.3
3 Robin 81.5
4 Woodpigeon 79.6
5 Great Tit 77.2
6 Starling 64.0
7 Magpie 61.8
8 House Sparrow 59.3
9 Collared Dove 50.2
10 Dunnock 46.9
11 Greenfinch 43.7
12 Feral Pigeon 41.9
13 Chaffinch 35.3
14 Carrion Crow 35.1
15 Wren 27.5
16 Coal Tit 25.1
17 Jay 24.9
18 Great Spotted Woodpecker 20.3
19 Long-tailed Tit 15.5
20 Goldfinch 11.0
21 Song Thrush 10.7
22 Nuthatch 6.5
23 Redwing 3.8
24 Sparrowhawk 3.3
25 Goldcrest 3.1
26 Blackcap 2.8
27 Black-headed Gull 2.5
28 Jackdaw 2.5
29 Siskin 1.8
30 Mistle Thrush 1.8
31 Tree Sparrow 1.6
32 Rook 1.3
33 Fieldfare 1.1
34 Pied Wagtail 0.8
35 Brambling 0.6
36 Bullfinch 0.6
37 Tawny Owl 0.5
38 Marsh/Willow Tit 0.4
39 Treecreeper 0.3
40 Yellowhammer 0.2
41 Reed Bunting 0.2
Related links

Should you see any sparrows in our neighbourhood, or spot their new nesting area (if there is one), please email SRRA. They will then pass on the
information to the RSPB.

SRRA Web site

BTO Web site

The Garden BirdWatch Web site


   The population of House Sparrow is declining dramatically, with a 59% reduction over the past five years in London. Only small pockets subsist throughout the city and according to the Sinclair Road Residents Association (SRRA), such a pocket could be found in Hofland Road until a few weeks ago.

SRRA says: "A number of sparrows had found shelter in the shrubs growing in the front garden of No. 3, Hofland Road. But this house was sold and is now being redeveloped by its new owners, who decided to cut down the shrubs. Having lost their habitat, the birds flew away - at the worst possible moment, as they were preparing their nests for spring."

SRRA has alerted the RSPB, and is asking if residents could report sightings of this colony of birds.

The decline in House Sparrows has been going on for several decades and there appear to be different factors influencing rural and suburban populations. Agricultural change, loss of nest sites and reduced food availability appears to have influenced rural populations but the factors behind the urban and suburban declines are more difficult to isolate.


The fall in numbers of House Sparrows is by no means restricted to London. It is estimated that there are ten million fewer House Sparrows in the UK than there were twenty-five years ago.
This is one of the reasons why the British Trust For Ornithology (BTO) has recently run a House Sparrow Appeal and is now setting up research to look at the declines in more detail.

Since gardens have become really important habitats for House Sparrows, Garden BirdWatchers are at the forefront of BTO work. Garden BirdWatch is a national project involving thousands of participants, all recording the birds that use their gardens from day to day. This makes Garden BirdWatch the largest year-round survey of garden birds in Europe.

Currently, some 16,000 people keep a systematic year-round list of the birds visiting their gardens for the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch. According to their reports, there are over 40 commonly reported birds from gardens in W6 area.

These are the most commonly reported birds from gardens in Hammersmith between September 30, 2001 and September 22, 2002 . Each species is ranked in order by the number of gardens (participating in the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch) which have reported it.