House Sparrow Passer domesticus

The adult male has a grey top to the head and a characteristic black ‘bib’ on his chest which is bolder in spring to attract a mate. The females and young birds are mainly sandy brown with darker streaks on the back and wings.

The much rarer tree sparrow can be confused with the house sparrow. However, tree sparrows are smaller and both sexes have a distinctive copper or chestnut brown cap to their heads, a white collar and a black spot on their cheeks. The tree sparrow is also much shyer and prefers to live in open farmland, isolated woods and disused quarries.

It is thought that house sparrow numbers in towns and cities have seriously declined over recent decades. There is no definitive answer as to why this is, but some of the theories include; loss of nesting sites, lack of available food throughout the nesting season, increased use of garden insecticides, more predation by cats and other predators, and spread of disease.

Although the reasons for decline are not clear, there are things that we can do to help the house sparrow. These include: putting up nest boxes, encouraging insect life in your garden by gardening organically, planting plants that attract insect life and feeding the birds in your garden, particularly with seeds in the winter time.

Plants provide three essential resources for wild birds. The first, often overlooked, is cover. Birds need shelter and protection from predators and weather for themselves and especially for their nests. Secondly, wild birds need invertebrates, such as tiny caterpillars, aphids, beetle and sawfly larvae, etc., to feed themselves but most importantly to feed their chicks. Even house sparrows, which eat almost entirely seeds as adults, require huge numbers of invertebrates to survive their first few days after hatching. Thirdly, the seeds, berries and fruits of plants are vital food for birds in winter. It follows that to attract and help the most birds; your plants should offer all three of these resources.

Cover means hedges and bushes, dense, preferably thorny and absolutely not pruned in summer when thrushes and finches are rearing late broods. Robin boxes, by the way, are useless in the open but readily used if hidden behind a spiny shrub pyracantha. Hawthorn is ideal, not only excellent at concealing nests but being native it supports invertebrate larvae and provides the added bonus of autumn berries. Other plants that tick all three boxes include ivy, holly, yew (females for berries), blackthorn and bramble. For invertebrates, native plants are best, but be tolerant; cotoneasters feed moths as well as providing cover and fruit, buddleia from the Himalayas feeds the butterflies while they search for native plants to lay eggs on. Of course, starting from scratch it’s far better to plant native species; barberry, thyme and marjoram, an oak if you have room. For autumn fruit, elder is the king with enough berries for us to share. Apple trees (unsprayed, of course) are also excellent for both invertebrates and fruit. Don’t forget seeds: teasels for goldfinches, honesty for bullfinches, sunflowers for greenfinches. Planting for wildlife can become an absorbing hobby; butterflies and moths, for example, require specific food plants which are easily researched in books or on the Internet. Many of these plants are attractive; a garden that provides a healthy food web for wildlife, rather than a sterile display of alien curiosities, can still be a beautiful garden to enjoy.

House sparrows are sociable birds living in colonies in both towns and countryside, rarely far from human habitation.

House sparrows will not travel far from where they were hatched. Their territory is the area immediately outside their nest, and, as a result, they can build their nests quite close to each other forming large communities.

Although the species has suffered considerable decline, most towns and villages in Norfolk still have populations of house sparrows although there are some puzzling exceptions, for example the centre of Norwich.

The tree sparrow was once a very common bird in farmland habitat, where they could be found amongst most overgrown hedgerows, especially ones with occasional mature trees. During the winter, grain piles and spillages also used to see large gatherings of mixed tree and house sparrow flocks. Nowadays though, much smaller numbers are to be found in these habitats.

In North Norfolk the most well known site is Choseley which is just 1 mile south of Titchwell, where the species is still present in small numbers. The best areas to look are around the drying barns and surrounding hedgerows. You can also search the hedgerows around Choseley Farm at the crossroads intersection, this is approximately ½ mile south of the drying barns. If you visit this site please park sensibly and respect farmer’s land and resident’s privacy.

If you visit areas with overgrown well-developed hedgerows that feature mature trees, then take the time to look for tree sparrows. Whilst they have become scarce, small numbers are spread widely across Norfolk.

If you feed birds in a rural garden then look for this species when we have hard frosts or snow, this forces individuals to move from their normal areas and they do regularly turn up at feeders in these conditions. You may be surprised to find they are closer to home than you realised.