Sparrow decline. Radio 4; 9pm Wednesday 18 March

[Geoff F]

Perhaps a bit late to mention this now. 'Who killed the Cockney Sparrer?'

London has lost 2/3 of it's Sparrows and other areas report similar stories.

Report from Tom Heap

[barquar]

In my Garden every day I get mostly Sparrows they are in my hedges singing their heads off.they come fisrt thing in a morning for food then a few about on and off all day but the bulk come at about 3 o,clock. they fly in as if they are going to crash but do a swerve and land so gently.
Barquar

[Wild-Woman]

As a child, I grew up on the outskirts of London, and 40 years ago I can remember many, many more house sparrows than there are now. If my Mum threw out bread crusts in the morning (we didn't understand the techologies of bird-feeding then), within seconds there were many dozens of sparrows down from the hedges and houses. I can recall my Mum getting fed up with them dive bombing her washing on a monday morning.
In those days, we had HEDGES and old guttering that allowed sparrows into the loft and front gardens full of flowers and insects, not a hard standing for a car.
I'm certain that we've lost them because of habitat changes by us, affecting them.
Wildlife doesn't do the super sterile, flatpack and cleanable way of living that we've be forced to adopt.

Get some decent hawthorns and privets growing in the garden, don't repair the gutter and let your garden run wild and then perhaps we'll see a change for house sparrows.....and so much other wildlife.

[nightshade]

Wild Woman has it right, Sparrows like an untidy garden, plenty of wildlife does! They need gutters, hedges and "Conversation trees" as they are very social.
All these things are missing from gardens today, we have concreted away (or
decked over) our garden wildlife heritage.
I have Sparrows here since changing from a semi formal garden to a more wildlife friendly garden; hedging, pond, insect attracting plants, feeders that they can rely on

[ron1863]

I remember flocks of Sparrows visiting the garden when I was a nipper. Now I am lucky to see one or two, same with starlings. Modern house building doesn't leave nooks and crannies for them to nest in and councils in large cities put up fine netting on buildings to stop them roosting.

[Mungo]

Bumping this as it starts shortly

[Wild-Woman]

Missed it unfortunately. What was said?

[Hedge Witch]

Here you are WW (don't say I never do anything for you ):

BBC iPlayer - Who Killed the Cockney Sparrer?

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by Hedge Witch

Here you are WW (don't say I never do anything for you ):

BBC iPlayer - Who Killed the Cockney Sparrer?

Ah. Good. Thank you. I'll tune in after work.

[Hedge Witch]

Interesting that the they still haven't found the cause. All the things I have been doing seem to have been in vain - nesting sites, access to seeds, putting out mealworms.

The one thing I have my hopes pinning on are the hedges I am now growing. Because for some reason, they do seem to need to sit together and chirp in hedges (this is touched upon in the broadcast)! The man down our road has now done his worst. He has single-handedly almost annihilated our local population.

But hedges take forever to grow

I'm hoping for a miracle.