LATEST MOAN FROM YOU AND ME - 2022

Wilco's are hard to beat for seeds. My various leek varieties were 75p a packet and it's not only the price that's good. The amount of seeds per packet are higher than most suppliers. I've got average 400 seeds per packet.

 

Sparrows. What’s the point of them. More to the point, what’s the point of there being so many of them. They don’t have the speckled attraction or songsmithery of the other pack dwellers, the starlings. They don’t scurry along the ground, or spread their wings sunbathing on the lawn in a cool way, or sideways squint at you when you’re in the garden, like the blackbird does. They don’t have the friendly allure of the robin, or the tinkerbell darting charm of the tits, or the dark brooding presence of the crows, or the serene ambling of the thrush. They’ve got nothing to warm to, and like the herring gulls, they’re everywhere, the Bradley Walshes of the bird community, everywhere at once, gobbling up everything so that nothing else gets a look in, adding nothing of any value to what you’re looking at, a yucky, mucky brown eyesore of a presence. Even the seldom visiting sparrowhawk has given up on them. And they haven’t even started nesting yet….

 

I remember sparrows from childhood, but don't see many these days. There numbers have dropped significantly since the 70s mainly due to changes in farming practice, use of pesticides and general habitat loss.
The Chinese under Mao discovered, the hard way, that sparrows and other small birds are important. Mao annoyed/concerned about the grain they ate; ordered an extermination programme this was successful insect pest numbers soared, yields dropped people starved.

 

Thanks for that, Wiseowl. My issue with them, is they just hog the sunflower seed feeder. There’s plenty of bird seed on offer outside and in other gardens, but the tits can’t get a beak in to the sunflowers for the marauding hordes of sparrows. Their greed knows no bounds, and while the other garden bird visitors do their bit of pest control and pollination, I’ve yet to see a sparrow lift a wing to help in any way other than bend, to the point of breaking, the stems of the grasses.

On a more serious note though, we’re trying to do our bit up here to get more diversity in the birdlife, a neighbour had goldfinches nesting for the first time, and I’ve got returning blue tits to, hopefully successfully breed again this year. Great tits, coal tits and chaffinches are far more frequently seen, and while we’re undoubtedly adding to the existing sparrow population with more feeding points, I guess it’s all about some kind of acceptable nature balance.

 

I can’t match that, Shiney…could you do 23 types of seagull though probably…

 

Nature never turns out exactly how we would like it.
The more adaptive the bird is in its feeding habits the better it will survive and presumably be more abundant.
I have sparrows, but they are nowhere near as bad as pigeons when it comes to hogging the food.
Likewise starlings descend in droves when I put out mealworms for the blue tits and robins.

They just have to sort themselves out, and they are all welcome, even got a pair of Jays now.

 

Beats me handsdown; I have crows, magpies, blackbirds and that's about it for regulars.
The crows keep the seagulls off the roof, quite amusing watching a seagull on balanced on the ridge ducking and trying to keep its footing when a crow swoops on it, often from below roof level and behind with a loud caw.
Having said that I know there are goldfinches sheltering in the Cupressus, see the odd flash from them, in the trees at the back there are tawny owls and woodpeckers, on one particular tree top there is often a bullfinch, a robin or two keep a close eye when I'm digging or spreading compost. Over the years I have seen a Jay, a Treecreeper, a variety of tits and a Hoopoe all occasional visitors just passing through.
As for seagulls neighbours have them and they never shut up.

 

I put just one batch of peanuts out each day, once gone they are gone until the next day.
If not I get pigeons all day and they never stop eating.

I dont have a peanut feeder but I do have fat ball feeder and a sunflower seed feeder.

 

Personally would love to see Sparrows in our garden. Think i could count on one hand the amount i have seen in 9 years!

 

I thought robins were territorial?
Was under the impression you wouldn't get more than one pair at a time?