Sparrows and privet hedges (2 Viewers)

[David Martens]

Has anybody else noticed the link between Privet hedges and Sparrows?
They seem to love being in them and around them and seem to be much more numerous where there are plenty of hedges in the area.
I've just worked out how to post a Thread thanks to Steve
Cheers Steve!

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

Hi David and Welcome to Birdforum, on behalf of the Moderators and other Staff here!

In my area of town there seems to be a link, for sure - doesn't stop them declining, they still need appropriate nesting sites.

Where they have lost out seems to be since plastic fascias, etc., have become the norm - find an urban area with a few 'unmodernised' houses and decent hedgerows then you're likely to find a small colony of House Sparrows.

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[Geoff Brown]

I am lucky, have lots of privet hedge and lots of both tree and house sparrows. Wish the sparrows could help in cutting the hedges!

 

[Jay23]

Sparrows....

Has anybody else noticed the link between Privet hedges and Sparrows?
They seem to love being in them and around them and seem to be much more numerous where there are plenty of hedges in the area.

Frutratingly, not in my garden. I do not have a single Sparrow record in my garden in over ten years desipte there being a seemingly healthy population in the garden of the house opposite me! I have over sixty metres of privet hedge, some over four metres high! I do have a big population of privet hawk moths however................

 

[showaddy]

Yes.

Not just sparrows and privet - over the years I have noticed a number of preferences which are more to do with nesting than food:
Collared Doves and Cypresses (think Leylandii etc.)
Wrens and ivy
Magpies and Hawthorn
Rooks and English Elm (it was seriously considered by some people that the Dutch Elm disease might cause a catastrophic crash in rook population because they seemed to nest exclusively in these trees - in my area there never were any number of english elm, and rooks seem to prefer sycamore where they can get it.)

 

[pauco]

Has anybody else noticed the link between Privet hedges and Sparrows?
They seem to love being in them and around them and seem to be much more numerous where there are plenty of hedges in the area.
I've just worked out how to post a Thread thanks to Steve
Cheers Steve!

Hi David, and welcome to BirdForum, we are lucky to have hawthorn-privet hedges around our garden, and they are full of sparrows every day. They are very sociable birds, and there churping gets louder as the day goes on. Ialso think they find the dense hedges a great protection from preditors, ie: sprawks.

 

[Alastair Rae]

There's definitely a connection. Here in sunny Islington our sparrow population is in free fall. The last colony on my cycle ride to work was recently wiped out when their privet was built over.

 

[nick scarle]

My garden has over 100 metres of tall, thick privet hedging, the house has lots of holes in the brickwork where sparrows used to nest, food is still provided year round and yet all the sparrows have dissappeared - not just from my garden but the whole neighbourhood.
I am at a loss to explain it.

Nick

 

[David Martens]

Thanks for your opinions everyone.
I think there is a link but as nick says ,he has all the right conditions but sparrows have gone. I think it maybe to do with traffic density and possibly unleaded petrol as sparrow declines started with the introduction of the "green Fuel".
Lack of insects during the beeding season, critical to nestlings ....are they being killed off thro vehicle emissions of unleaded and diesel?(the insects I mean not the sparrows directly!)It seems to be the urban and suburban populations that have crashed.
Small villages and farms having livestock seem to have healthy populations.Is that because insects are plentiful?
I don't know and have no science to back it up, just obsevations. and a "hunch"
The lack of suitable nesting sites due to plastic fascia boards etc. must be a contributing factor. and the general tidying up of gardens.
Cheers anyway
Nick how do you know you're not that person!?

 

[James Blake]

There are always House Sparrows cheeping away in a small patch of Pampas Grass at King's Lynn bus station - seems quite an unusual site, especialy given the above comments about air pollution. Yet another example, I guess, of how hard it can be to predict where a species will thrive and where it will not.

James

 

[Andrew]

Got privet in our gardens and a healthy population of Sparrows too, mind you I feed them well.

 

[brianfm]

House Sparrows (spuggies) and privet reminds me of when I was a litle lad and on my walks to school in Newcastle this was almost my only contact with 'nature'. The decline in the sparrow population is sad although I am pleased to say there are still lots of 'spuggies' in my garden!

 

[Nutcracker]

Thanks for your opinions everyone.
I think there is a link but as nick says ,he has all the right conditions but sparrows have gone. I think it maybe to do with traffic density and possibly unleaded petrol as sparrow declines started with the introduction of the "green Fuel".
Lack of insects during the beeding season, critical to nestlings ....are they being killed off thro vehicle emissions of unleaded and diesel?(the insects I mean not the sparrows directly!)It seems to be the urban and suburban populations that have crashed.
Small villages and farms having livestock seem to have healthy populations.Is that because insects are plentiful?
I don't know and have no science to back it up, just obsevations. and a "hunch"
The lack of suitable nesting sites due to plastic fascia boards etc. must be a contributing factor. and the general tidying up of gardens.
Cheers anyway
Nick how do you know you're not that person!?

Could well be true, particularly if it ties in with petrol emissions rather than diesel.

I don't think the lack of nest sites is such an important factor, there's plenty of places the sparrows have gone leaving empty, but still perfectly suitable nest sites behind. And even the UK's top sparrow authority (Denis Summers-Smith) failed to attract sparrows to the special sparrow nest boxes he put up in his garden

 

[Donald E Lyven]

Hi David,

Yes I noticed this link between Privet and house sparrows some years ago and wrote about it. Because of resultant apathy with the media and the main bird organisations, I started my own website called: www.sparrowsneedhedges.com

I believe cover to be essential for sparrows, it enables them to travel safely between nest site, food source, and water and allows them to socialise.

Front garden loss has decimated town sparrow populations across this country, as colonies get isolated from each other. Hedgehogs have suffered too. Privet is an evergreen and common, and so is important for all-year cover. This great loss in urban and suburban hedgerow has gone almost unnoticed. You only have to see what hedgerow loss did to the countryside wildlife after the War years ago to realise its importance.

Places that do have lots of hedges and no sparrows probably suffer from not enough nest sites, too many cats and over tidy gardens with few weeds - Districts like Hampstead Garden Suburb; where due to peer pressure from neighbours, all the gardens are too neat and there is no litter in the streets, contain expensive houses are all well maintained, so now there are hardly any sparrows left.

Conversely, all my Borough's council estates have good populations of house sparrows. Scraggly overgrown hedges, weeds and badly maintained roofs are ideal for these birds.

Please visit my site and read my articles. Take away a bird's habitat and the bird will go. The myth that sparrows will happily live anywhere does not help the bird's situation. All the essential needs of the sparrow must be available.

Thanks.

Donald

 

[A CHAPLIN]

Hi Donald.

Welcome to BirdForum I couldn't believe it reading your post someone actually thinks the same way as me, it is the lack of hedges and mature trees that has a lot to do with the decline in the Sparrow population. I live in an older semi 1930s and have noticed a rapid decline in Sparrows over the last few years as houses have changed hands and hedges been pulled out and trees removed and also as you say front gardens replaced by car parks. I have privet hedges all round my property and when I sit by the window there are birds popping in and out all the time. People seem to want a maintenance free property nowadays, if they don't like gardening why not buy a flat? Two houses in my street have changed hands last week , one of which has a large tall privet hedge between a pair of semi detached houses the same age as mine, both neighbours liking their privacy the front was pulled out years ago by a previous owner. The lady who sold the house told me she hoped the new owners would leave the hedge in but will they? I wished we lived in a conservation area like the next street to mine, they are not allowed to remove hedges or trees unless they are in a dangerous state. I wish that applied to every street of older houses in the country. I hate fences, the neighbours on either side of me have erected fences (I would not agree to them removing the hedges, they are shared boundaries). When we have windy weather they bang about all the time and in gales at least one fence panel is blown out, hedges move with the wind fences do not. In the gales in January/February 2 houses lost their front fences entirely and have not bothered to replace them bet they will just use the front as a car park instead which is happening all round here.

Sorry rant over. I belong to the BTO Garden Birdwatch Scheme and can tell from my figures and my own eyes, birds here are declining rapidly. As you say there are no "highways" for them.

Unfortunately I lost the long term resident pair of Sparrows who nested in the front eaves of the house when the telephone cable attached blew down in a gale and when BT replaced it attached a large bracket which unfortunately blocked the birds' access. I only noticed it the next morning when I did not hear the resident male and when I looked up saw what had happened, they had no home. I wished I had stood and watched them replacing the small bracket but stupidly assumed they would just re-connect the cable not the bracket as well or I would have asked them to position it on the side of the house not right on the corner. It is eerily quiet now without the constant chirping there used to be. This week I have seen one lonely male Sparrow and that is all. Today I felt sorry for him he was just sitting in the tree outside my window with a feather in his bill obviously hoping a female would come along. Haven't seen a female Sparrow for ages.

What can we do about the situation?

Ann Chaplin

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

Hi David,

Yes I noticed this link between Privet and house sparrows some years ago and wrote about it. Because of resultant apathy with the media and the main bird organisations, I started my own website called: www.sparrowsneedhedges.com

I believe cover to be essential for sparrows, it enables them to travel safely between nest site, food source, and water and allows them to socialise.

Front garden loss has decimated town sparrow populations across this country, as colonies get isolated from each other. Hedgehogs have suffered too. Privet is an evergreen and common, and so is important for all-year cover. This great loss in urban and suburban hedgerow has gone almost unnoticed. You only have to see what hedgerow loss did to the countryside wildlife after the War years ago to realise its importance.

Places that do have lots of hedges and no sparrows probably suffer from not enough nest sites, too many cats and over tidy gardens with few weeds - Districts like Hampstead Garden Suburb; where due to peer pressure from neighbours, all the gardens are too neat and there is no litter in the streets, contain expensive houses are all well maintained, so now there are hardly any sparrows left.

Conversely, all my Borough's council estates have good populations of house sparrows. Scraggly overgrown hedges, weeds and badly maintained roofs are ideal for these birds.

Please visit my site and read my articles. Take away a birds habitat and the bird will go. The myth that sparrows will happily live anywhere does not help the bird's situation. All the essential needs of the sparrow must be available.

Thanks.

Donald

Hi Donald and "Welcome to Birdforum!" on behalf of everyone here on the staff.

I'm glad you've found us, we could do with a little 'refocussing' from time to time. (I was going to say "I'm pleased to greet someone else who is stubborn enough to kick against the pricks" but I'm not sure how well a Shakespearian reference would go down.)

Keep up the good work!

Regards,

Andy.

 

[buckskin hawk]

Fence Rows- Native Sparrows

Hi Donald.

Welcome to BirdForum I couldn't believe it reading your post someone actually thinks the same way as me, it is the lack of hedges and mature trees that has a lot to do with the decline in the Sparrow population. I live in an older semi 1930s and have noticed a rapid decline in Sparrows over the last few years as houses have changed hands and hedges been pulled out and trees removed and also as you say front gardens replaced by car parks. I have privet hedges all round my property and when I sit by the window there are birds popping in and out all the time. People seem to want a maintenance free property nowadays, if they don't like gardening why not buy a flat? Two houses in my street have changed hands last week , one of which has a large tall privet hedge between a pair of semi detached houses the same age as mine, both neighbours liking their privacy the front was pulled out years ago by a previous owner. The lady who sold the house told me she hoped the new owners would leave the hedge in but will they? I wished we lived in a conservation area like the next street to mine, they are not allowed to remove hedges or trees unless they are in a dangerous state. I wish that applied to every street of older houses in the country. I hate fences, the neighbours on either side of me have erected fences (I would not agree to them removing the hedges, they are shared boundaries). When we have windy weather they bang about all the time and in gales at least one fence panel is blown out, hedges move with the wind fences do not. In the gales in January/February 2 houses lost their front fences entirely and have not bothered to replace them bet they will just use the front as a car park instead which is happening all round here.

Sorry rant over. I belong to the BTO Garden Birdwatch Scheme and can tell from my figures and my own eyes, birds here are declining rapidly. As you say there are no "highways" for them.

Unfortunately I lost the long term resident pair of Sparrows who nested in the front eaves of the house when the telephone cable attached blew down in a gale and when BT replaced it attached a large bracket which unfortunately blocked the birs' access. I only noticed it the next morning when I did not hear the resident male and when I looked up saw what had happened, they had no home. I wished I had stood and watched them replacing the small bracket but stupidly assumed they would just ere-connect the cable have asked them to position it on the side of the house not right on the corner. It is eerily quiet now without the constant chirping there used to be. This week I have seen one lonely male Sparrow and that is all. Today I felt sorry for him he was just sitting in the tree outside my window with a feather in his bill obviously hoping a female would come along. Haven't seen a female Sparrow for ages.

What can we do about the situation?

Ann Chaplin

English sparrows are a permanent resident of my Holly hedge. They are the only type of sparrow attracted to my home. All of the native sparrows are in the country where they are some-what plentiful. Population studies are underway and some are concerned.

The native sparrows are found along the fence lines - specially the ones that have grown up with native tall grass, bushes and brambles. We have an abundance of wild blackberries along most any fence line. Native sparrows in my county include American Tree, Chipping, Clay Colored, Field (my favorite), Vesper, Lark, Savanah, Grasshopper, Henslow's, Le Counte's, Fox, Song, Linclon's, Swamp, White throated, Harris, and White Crowned. The ones in blue I have seen along the fence row along the road in a pasture behind my home or at the barn where I stable my horses.

Here it isn't the hedges but the fence rows.

 

[citrinella]

Thanks for your opinions everyone.
I think there is a link but as nick says ,he has all the right conditions but sparrows have gone. I think it maybe to do with traffic density and possibly unleaded petrol as sparrow declines started with the introduction of the "green Fuel".
Lack of insects during the beeding season, critical to nestlings ....are they being killed off thro vehicle emissions of unleaded and diesel?(the insects I mean not the sparrows directly!)It seems to be the urban and suburban populations that have crashed.
Small villages and farms having livestock seem to have healthy populations.Is that because insects are plentiful?
I don't know and have no science to back it up, just obsevations. and a "hunch"
The lack of suitable nesting sites due to plastic fascia boards etc. must be a contributing factor. and the general tidying up of gardens.
Cheers anyway
Nick how do you know you're not that person!?

I suspect sparrows are not species specific to privet, many really good thick hedge species will do. I don't have privet on my farm, but two nice collonies associated with good hedges and farm buildings.

I thought the same about livestock farms as you. My sparrow population almost disappeared when I had to stop keeping cattle (but has since recovered). This seemed to be quite common in the area at that time (early 90s). However, one of my neighbours said how nice it was to see sparrows every time he passed. "Don't you have sparrows ?". No. His population declined at the same time as me - but he had never cut his livestock. Another neighbouring farm lost it's stock much later when it was sold, but didn't lose it's sparrows. Not such a simple picture.

Mike.

 

[Donald E Lyven]

Dear Ann,

What a sad story. Today I drove around a new part (for me anyway) of the Borough of Barnet and have consequently added five more stickers to my map of Barnet's sparrow colonies. They were all where there was plenty of cover available near their nests.

Cheers,

Donald

 

[rezMole]

When i was a kid - in the lates 60's / early 70's we had sparrows and nothing but sparrows. We also lived on a council estate where EVERY garden was surrounded by privet. Perhaps there is a link. Having said that, we hardly ever saw blue / great tits. Maybe the tits have just adapted better. My garden is full of them, and although there are a pair of sparrows, i have only so far noticed the tits gathering nesting material. I suspect they have already moved into the two nestboxes.