Sparrowhawk on the Rowan tree

I can see why the Goldfiches did nt oblige.
Great capture of tge Sparrow Hawk.

oh WOW OBW , clever you

Gg

Clever old goldfinches! Great photo.

Brilliant! We had one visiting quite often recently, which was great as he discouraged the flock of dozens and dozens of sparrows from using my arbour as a communal lavatory!

It's odd you have so many sparrows, Karen, when the RSPB
says 'House sparrows are declining seriously across parts of the UK as a result of changes in the wider countryside, especially in farming methods. Around 60% of house sparrows have been lost since the mid-1970s.'
House & Tree Sparrows also Starlings are on the red list.

Its worrying. We have a large starling roost near us that until a couple of years ago hosted a good half million birds at night and it was wonderful watching them fly in in their thousands. Each flock had a bird of prey hovering over it. But last year there were far fewer, and there are hardly any so far this year.

There are thousands of them around here. They hang out in the village hedges in winter. They make an almighty racket! But I do feed them. They come to my feeders every day and you can see a dozen at a time and another squad waiting in the hedge!

I was reading about the starlings on the RSPB site, it says They spend the day feeding in smaller flocks but as dusk approaches, they fly to these communal roosts.

I've noticed rooks doing the same.

Sparrows tend to stay in the same area & don't travel far. Pairs often remain faithful to their nest site and to each other for life, they live in flocks which tend to break up through the autumn and birds return to their nesting colony sites.

Karen, you might be interested to read this from RSPB Scotland.

https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/dont-cut-your-hedge-between-march-and-august-to-help-glasgows-house-sparrows

Thanks GF! This what we do..leave the hedges from nesting time to late summer. Except the bottom hedge which has to be cut more often so we can see to get out! But no birds would nest there...too much traffic.

GF thank goodness rooks have smaller roosts than starlings! There's a rookery along one side of our garden and it gets 25-30 nests in spring. The noise is terrific, especially when jackdaws come in in the evening and want the same spot. We need earplugs!

A couple of years ago we watched an obviously inexperienced rook trying to make his first nest. He brought the twigs in but coudn't work out how to fix them. It was pathetic - we longed to get up the tree and help! He made it in the end while his missus patiently sat nearby and watched, but the nest was later than all the others by the time he finished it!

Karen, I'm sure you look after your hedges sensibly, I sent the link more cos of the info & the situation in Glasgow, 90% down for sparrows is just awful. I know that's not your area but thought as it's rspb scotland you might like to look up more local info about birds either specific or more general.

Stera, On one side of us we have a rookery too, but not as large as yours but it's quite noisy enough. I always thought it was crows that the fuss was all about but it could be jackdaws as I don't know how to tell the difference. Which is the one that makes a noise like a football ratchet?

Come late afternoon I've see 100's & 100's coming from all directions, then as if a signal goes off, they all take off to where I don't know.