Sparrows

Mike from London · May 2008

Are sparrows coming back? I only ask because I have a flock of ten or more of them in my back garden. Little chirpy fellas.

Giles · May 2008

Stroud Green's own SpringWatch...

Colette · May 2008

Yes. In a big way apparently.

Lucy · May 2008

yup, because more people have started feeding birds year round in their gardens. I've got a sparrow terrace in my garden but no-one's moved in this year! Seen loads of starlings this year too and long-tailed tits. Even had a goldfinch out the front. Sorry, won't start on the bird geekery.

David · May 2008

We have Eugene's Lair, I'm sure we can have a twitters corner. We seem to have quite a lot of magpies. Last year it was huge wood pidgeons but they seemed to have moved on this year. Not a twitter myself so don't know the breeds but seeing lots of small colourful birds on Florence and around the walk.

flembo · May 2008

I always have about 10 in the garden. Mind you, I've got three feeders and a bird bath. We have the sparrows as regular visitors along with starlings, wood pigeons, collared doves, the occasional goldfinch, jay, robin, wren, blue and great tits but not the long-tail tits so far. As well as many squirrels on the scrounge. We're lucky to be near the park and the parkland walk so that helps. It's also breeding season so it's important to keep the birds fed. Swifts, starlings and sparrows are all nesting in holes in the windows and under the roof.

A lot more people are feeding the birds so that helps.

katiejane · May 2008

I've seen starlings in the estate car park, which I haven't seen for a long time in a city. Have seen jays quite regularly too, and lots of blue tits.

@ Lucy - bring on the bird geekery I say!

jandb · May 2008

Lots of Jays and Magpies near us too ... and a resident Woodpecker (greater spotted I think) - the Simon Pegg of the bird world.

Lucy · May 2008

@katiejane - I don't need to be told twice! There was a pair of green woodpeckers in Finsbury park a couple of years ago and if you go to one tree in the park there are blue tits and robins that will eat food from your hand. A local woman has been feeding them for years. Very cute. I've seen the greater spotted woodpeckers - got very excited. There've been loads of swifts this year too, although haven't spotted any swallows or house martins. There's also some sort of warbler on Parkland walk but no idea which one - they do all look mighty similar! Loads of pigeons in my back garden too (for the first time since we've been here). I blame Ken and his pigeon-specism (sp?). One thing I've noticed is that people are, for the most part, leaving their hedge cutting till later in the season and that means more and longer cover for nesting birds. This is my excuse for the current state of my garden!

Four Eyes · May 2008

A couple of <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/r/ringneckedparakeet/">ring necked parakeets</a> squawking in my back garden this morning. I'm pleased to see these colourful little fellas are moving up from South London. I've seen a good few on Hampstead Heath but hadn't seen them in our neighbourhood before.

David · May 2008

And so they all come out of the woodwork. When I was growing up, twittering seemed to be considered a very old lonely man's domain. But I don't know a single person who doesn't at the very least appreciate our feathered friends even if they don't exactly go spotting. Where did that reputation come from?

Giles · May 2008

The parakeets can be found in the area fenced off by metal railings in the centre of <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.563386,-0.156491&spn=0.006429,0.016608&z=16"> this map </a>. Sometimes the RSPB set up a stall nearby.

Lucy · May 2008

@david - bill oddie?

Lucy · May 2008

@four eyes & giles - the parakeets are really an invasive species, like the grey squirrel. We should get rid of them - doesn't seem to stop me feeding the squirrel in our back garden from the top of the kitchen steps with my not cheap hazelnuts! <http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23389796-details/Cull+of+the+parakeets/article.do>; <http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/invasion-of-the-parakeets-441304.html>;

Mike from London · May 2008

Blimey. Move over Sir Peter Scott. So are sparrows really coming back? I've not seen any stories in the papers about 'return of the sparrow'.

Last year a a neighbour in Victoria Road saw a sparrowhawk dive into her garden, capture a blackbird, bite its head off and then eat it bit by bit. She showed me the pictures.

And what is that bird in the spring that goes cheep=cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep all the time. Do you get chiff chaffs round here?

Mike from London · June 2008

It was a chiffchaff. I heard them on Radio Four today.

tosscat · June 2008

I saw a green woodpecker in FP about a month ago - it was lovely and the trees outside my flat are riddled with tits.

Ali · June 2008

A wood pecker is a regular visitor to the backgardens of Lorne Road

Mike from London · June 2008

I've never seen one. What kind of bird food do you put out - railway sleepers?

Colette · June 2008

I saw a big woodpecker near the Whittington Hospital a couple of weeks ago.

Beek · June 2008

I am convinced I saw a montague's harrier in our back garden. Stripey tail feather, big bugger! he was very impressive. Anyway, does anyone know the name of the birdy that goes Pink-a-Pink-a-Pink every morning at about 5.20 am? It's driving me nuts!

Liz · June 2008

Lucy would know but she's on holiday at the moment. I'm sure she'll help you out when she's back.

Mike from London · June 2008

@Beek - could be my alarm clock.

I think it is more likely to be that chiff chaff I mentioned. It doesn't go Pink-a-Pink-a-Pink, it goes Chiff-a-Chaff-a-Chiff. For ever. Heard one on the parkland walk this morning and that's what it was a-doing.

The 'montague's harrier' was probably the big eagle that has escaped from somewhere in Highgate and is currently terrorising small children all over Crouch End and N4. It gets mentioned quite a lot in the Hornsey Journal.

Mike from London · June 2008

I have just realised that the only part of my avatar that is showing is my nose. Can anyone else see it?

Liz · June 2008

Yes. It is your nose. I thought it was arty.

David · June 2008

The Wood Pidgeons have finally arrived. Some fisticuffs going on with the Magpie's outside the kitchen window now. Bonus of the Wood Pidgeons arriving is that they tease the cat inside the window from the tree just outside, causing wierd involuntary half chirp half meouw noises with an odd jaw action while lunging at a closed window from an indoor cat that would have no idea what to do with a pidgeon if it actually caught it. Great viewing. It's becoming my habitual lackadaisical summer entertainment.

unaesthetic · June 2008

what's the difference between swallows and swifts? one or the other has colonised woodstock road. quite lovely.

and we have wood pigeons in the tree behind us too... the sound of wood pigeons is one of my earliest childhood memories...

tosscat · June 2008

swallow - red throat swift - bigger and leaner, white throat

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