Bolton Bird Survey - Press Release

[Nightranger]

I hope I am not breaking any guidelines by posting a link - with kind regards to Bolton Evening News:

A north-south divide spotted with sparrows (From The Bolton News)

Unfortunately, the survey is only open to people in the Bolton area but please see contact information if you are interested.

[Nightranger]

Unfortunately, an error in the wording crept in during editing by the paper but to prove the original press release was not contradictory, here is the press release as sent out:

HEADLINE: Postcode lottery for sparrows

People living in north Bolton are up to sixty per cent less likely to see house sparrows in their garden than people living in the south of the town.

Data from Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s annual garden bird survey organised by the Environmental Resource Centre indicates that house sparrows are found in two out of three gardens across north Bolton. In one area, the abundance is down to one in three gardens whereas gardens in the south of the town almost universally see visits from one of the most familiar of urban birds.

House sparrows have a very limited home range and have declined by more than sixty percent nationally over the last twenty-five years. Local records may be important to understand the many causes for decline, which may be largely due to habitat loss in urban areas.

However, the picture is not all gloom and doom with species such as the blackbird and the familiar Christmas symbol, the robin present in more than ninety per cent of gardens. The survey also shows the importance of garden feeders to birds like the long-tailed tit that suffered terrible declines following the bad winter of 1963.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust holds an annual garden bird survey, which takes place during the Christmas period and the most recent survey results are currently being processed. If you would like to take part in the next survey contact the Environmental Resource Centre, Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside at 499-511 Bury Road, Bolton. BL2 6DH. Tel: 01204 663754.

[Hedge Witch]

Hi Nightranger, this is an interesting report. I would love to know why Bolton has this North-South divide in terms of specific differences in habitat. Therein might lie the key to the decline Nationwide, I feel.

Thanks for posting this

[Nightranger]

Originally Posted by Hedge Witch

Hi Nightranger, this is an interesting report. I would love to know why Bolton has this North-South divide in terms of specific differences in habitat. Therein might lie the key to the decline Nationwide, I feel.

Thanks for posting this

Thanks for the interest in this subject. I am sure the decline is related to habitat loss in urban areas but it is a different matter in rural areas where food is probably the main factor. I am planning to investigate the areas in north Bolton at some point but there has been a big re-roofing programme in the area that may be important.

Ian

[ron1863]

I don't need a survey to tell me that there has been a dramatic decline in House Sparrow numbers.
We used to get flocks of them in the garden up until a couple of years ago. We are lucky if we see one or two a day now.
Some reports say that one of the causes is modern house building methods, which don't leave spaces under roof tiles or eaves for the birds to nest and the trend to monoblock gardens has led to the decline of other garden birds such as the Thrush and Blackbird.

[Nightranger]

Originally Posted by ron1863

I don't need a survey to tell me that there has been a dramatic decline in House Sparrow numbers.
We used to get flocks of them in the garden up until a couple of years ago. We are lucky if we see one or two a day now.
Some reports say that one of the causes is modern house building methods, which don't leave spaces under roof tiles or eaves for the birds to nest and the trend to monoblock gardens has led to the decline of other garden birds such as the Thrush and Blackbird.

Hi Ron, The house sparrow situation is particularly interesting because the birds have such a small range with no migratory/nomadic movements and little (if any) juvenile dispersal. This means that a local decline could be potentially pinpointed to a specific event as long as we remember to extrapolate backwards by a few years to allow for the population to die out through failed breeding/winter mortality. The modern building practise question is certainly relevant but as far as I am aware, no one has pinned this down specifically so far. J Denis Summers-Smith also cites loss of hedges in urban areas so this is another aspect I need to investigate should I confirm the acute decline through examination of other data. I certainly witnessed the loss of a colony of house sparrows at Elton Reservoir that was directly attributable to removal of a length of hedge but equally, there has been an extensive redevelopment of housing in the Bolton area.

J Denis Summers-Smith has done some great work on both house sparrows and tree sparrows if anyone is interested in monographs:

House Sparrow by J D Summers-Smith
Published by Collins (1967) ISBN: 0002130939

In Search of Sparrows by J. Denis Summers-Smith.
Published by T. & A. D. Poyser Ltd (1992) ISBN: 0856610739

The Sparrows: A Study of the Genus Passer by J. Denis Summers-Smith.
Published by T. & A. D. Poyser Ltd (1988) ISBN: 0856610488

The Tree Sparrow by J. Denis Summers-Smith
Published by the Author (1995) ISBN: 095253830X

[Hedge Witch]

Nightranger, I put up a sparrow "parade" nesting box, a bit like this:

http://www.petspantry.tv/acatalog/61115.jpg

Do you know if this might a suitable nesting site?

[Hedgehoggy]

Interesting reading Nightranger. Up until 3 years ago, I used to have a healthy flock of HS visiting my garden to feed. One day I returned home to be greeted with the sight of a 'side' neighbour's house. It was the first time I'd actually seen this house since previously it was shielded with 60ft+ long mature privet hedging and a beautiful mature elderberry tree. The new neighbour had entirely ripped it all out in just one day. I was mortified and ran out to ask why he'd done this. He said he wanted a low maintenance garden.

Not only have I not seen a single HS since then, but the yearly visit from a Whitethroat feeding on the elderberries has been absent since then too.

If it's any relevance, India are also suffering a drastic decline in their House Sparrow population. Some of the locals believe the decline is due to the ever-increasing motor pollution, which they believe is having a detrimental effect on the egg laying process, resulting in thinner, weaker, eggshells. I wonder if it's more a case of the ever-increasing motor pollution killing off the HS's natural food?

Hedge Witch I put a similar Sparrow Terrace on my house wall some four years ago (when I still had House Sparrows around). The first year I had Great Tits successfully nest in one of the compartments The following year that same compartment was taken over by bumble bees! Since then, the Tegenarias have colonised all 3 compartments and I haven't the heart to turf them out!

[Steve_In_Cheshire]

Originally Posted by Hedge Witch

Nightranger, I put up a sparrow "parade" nesting box, a bit like this:

http://www.petspantry.tv/acatalog/61115.jpg

Do you know if this might a suitable nesting site?

This looks good, a sparrow hotel

Just Green Just Sparrow Flats - Only £20.00 - Just Green

Check out the other boxes

Nest Boxes - Bird Care, Food & Nestbox Cameras - Just Green

[Hedge Witch]

Hi Steve - thanks.

I have a sparrow box, and availability of suitable nesting sites seems to be one of the factors in their decline. But they won't use it!

Very frustrating.