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Establishing a colony of Tree Sparrows! (1 Viewer)

Ptarmi

Ptarmi

Dick Glasgow
I've just created a new web page, with details of my efforts to date to establish a wee colony of Tree Sparrows here in my north Antrim garden.

Hopefully it might encourage other folk to put up a nest box or two in their own garden.

Helping Tree Sparrows

Cheers,
Dick
 
Since posting the site I've been contacted by someone in Finland who tells me they're having a lot of success feeding them & putting up nest boxes, but they find that they actually prefer horizontal ones, so my future boxes will be horizontal. I wonder if anyone in the UK has tried this style. Have seen no mention of this on BTO or RSPB literature.

For the record, here's a box I made yesterday to replace an old store bought small triple box, on the back end of my garage .. facing N.E..
Inside dimensions 4 x 20cm x 10cm.

It'll be very interesting to see how popular these are with my Tree Sparrows.

Cheers,
Dick
 

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Ptarmi said:
Since posting the site I've been contacted by someone in Finland who tells me they're having a lot of success feeding them & putting up nest boxes, but they find that they actually prefer horizontal ones ...
Click to expand...

This morning, they kindly sent me these two photos of triple versions of their horizontal ones.

Cheers,
Dick
 

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You could try contacting Vine house farm in Lincolnshire. They have a good website for buying boxes and seed, but they also have a healthy population of Tree Sparrows on the farm. Wouldn't hurt to ask their advice.
 
jackied said:
You could try contacting Vine house farm in Lincolnshire. They have a good website for buying boxes and seed, but they also have a healthy population of Tree Sparrows on the farm. Wouldn't hurt to ask their advice.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm familiar with their excellent work & their great website, but no evidence of horizontal boxes on their site.

Cheers,
Dick
 
Hi Dick,

Ptarmi said:
I've just created a new web page, with details of my efforts to date to establish a wee colony of Tree Sparrows here in my north Antrim garden.
Click to expand...

Wonderful!

From what I've read about sparrows here in Germany, they seem to need a bit of sandy ground for sand bathing.

I had a couple of Tree Sparrows breeding in my backyard for two years ... I figure they were attracted by the sandbox in the playground.

Regards,

Henning
 
Hi Dick,

Ptarmi said:
Yes, both my House & Tree Sparrows make good use of our ponies sandy Arena.
Click to expand...

Ah, that's great. Horse paddocks seem to be attractive to birds for more than one reason ... which I realized when I once saw a pair of Whinchats perching on the fence posts and hunting the insects that had been attracted by the horse droppings.

Unfortunately, I never saw that pair again ... Whinchats are on the decline here in Germany.

Your project to create a varied "garden" biotope is quite inspiring. Thanks a lot for sharing the pictures and videos! :)

Regards,

Henning
 
Hauksen said:
Ah, that's great. Horse paddocks seem to be attractive to birds for more than one reason ... which I realized when I once saw a pair of Whinchats perching on the fence posts and hunting the insects that had been attracted by the horse droppings.

Unfortunately, I never saw that pair again ... Whinchats are on the decline here in Germany.
Click to expand...

Lucky you.

I'm fortunate to have a pair nesting on my patch but they are a few miles away from my garden.

I've attached a photo.

Cheers,
Dick
 

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Ptarmi said:
For the record, here's a box I made yesterday to replace an old store bought small triple box, on the back end of my garage .. facing N.E..
Inside dimensions 4 x 20cm x 10cm.
Click to expand...

I fitted my newly made 4 compartment set of Tree Sparrow nest boxes on the back wall of the garage today.

Cheers,
Dick
 

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