1. Education

Discuss in my forum

Laura Klappenbach

House Sparrows in Decline in Britain

By , About.com GuideMarch 31, 2004

Follow me on:

See More About:

In Britain, scientists have found that in urban and rural areas there are now ten million fewer house sparrows than there were a few decades ago. The decline is more rapid in urban areas when compared to rural regions. London's sparrow population has dropped by sixty percent during the past six years. In rural areas of Britain, populations have fallen the same amount over the past thirty years.

Public and media response to the declining house sparrow population has been significant, with people contributing generously to organizations aimed at helping the house sparrows and frequent media coverage. If you would like to follow this story, you may find these resources informative:

Population estimates from the early 1970's suggest that as many 25 million sparrows once inhabited Great Britain. Now, scientists believe their numbers have dropped as low as 13 million individuals. Fortunately, homeowners can take a few simple steps that might drastically improve the environment for house sparrows (tips from House Sparrows in Great Britain):

  • Provide suitable shelter for birds in the form of shrubs, trees, and brambles. Delay trimming of bushes until winter time, after the berries are gone from the branches. This ensures the availability of the berries as a food source.
  • Provide food sources such as chickweed, charloc, fat hen, dandelion, shepherd's purse, nettle, geranium, honeysuckle, nightshade, cotoneaster, firethorn, wallflower and antirrhinum. Some of these plants are considered weeds, but nonetheless are the food source on which the sparrows rely.
  • Reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides in the garden.
  • Reduce the frequency of mowing.
  • Provide bird tables or hanging feeders as well as a bird bath with fresh water.

If you live in Great Britain and would like additional information about what you can do to attract and help house sparrows such as providing nesting sites and protection from predators, please refer to House Sparrows in Great Britain.

Find out more: Ten-Million Fewer House Sparrows

Photo © Tim Zurowski.

Comments

June 18, 2008 at 9:57 am
(1) Manjari Jain says:

hi just came across this post of yours. I really appreciate.
regards
manjari

December 21, 2011 at 8:32 pm
(2) orbissaro says:

Hope you like what I’m sharing by Earning a large http://www.incomeathome44.byethost8.com/ – incomeathome 44 at home isn’t what it really was once 7 to A decade ago. You could have easily put up an advert or sell something online like an affiliate program. This all simple task may even allow you to get beyond a substantial incomeathome44 at home. This is a entirely unique pastime now.

January 26, 2012 at 5:50 pm
(3) assuspisyobabyI says:

There are plenty regarding things you can do to wash your own Austin texas, Arizona house. Usually this consists of cleaning, cleaning the actual floors, vacuum-cleaning and much more! If you wish to actually obtain a deep down clean, then Rug Cleaning Austin is a thing you should consider obtaining. Whenever professional carpet cleaning stop by, they normally use their particular professional tools to make certain the carpeting will be cleaned as well as achievable. They are going to get all of the grime, things that trigger allergies, dustmites, etc that are deep down within the fibers from the floor covering. It won’t consider in which extended to wash one area and even a whole residence. The floor covering could end upwards seeking completely new when the cleansers are usually completed! The actual heavy cleansing is likely to make your home scent better, look much better and feel good general. It is worthwhile to get this completed when you need a totally heavy thoroughly clean.

Leave a Comment


Line and paragraph breaks are automatic. Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title="">, <b>, <i>, <strike>
Related Searches house sparrows decline
  1. About.com
  2. Education
  3. Animals / Wildlife

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved.

A part of The New York Times Company.