[Blackbrook Eye]

It seems to me that feeding wild birds at feeding stations, whether at home or in the countryside will become even more important as time goes on, as most of the birds that visit bird feeders, tables, etc. tend to be seed eaters, and due to many factors, such as the modern idea of making silage instead of hay, ploughing stubble fields as soon as the harvest is over, and the general loss of flower meadows reduce the natural wild food stores of these birds, they will become more dependant on artificial feeding. As far as becoming totally dependant on handouts, I cant see it happening, but what has happened to House sparrows over reacent years, at one time they were the most numerous birds in my garden, for the past few years I have hardly seen one, have they gone altogether or are they feeding elsewhere ?