We don't usually have more than one or two sparrows anyway, but heaps of three sorts of tit all the year round. The only birds that disappear for the summer are the starlings, thank goodness.

Quite a few of us on here have noticed that birds come for a few weeks and go for a few weeks,making for very busy and then very quiet times. Someone suggested that one reason for this is that they were vulnerable as their feathers were changing and so stayed in their nests, another suggestions was that there was lots to eat in the countryside too. I find Tits are around in the spring and then again in late summer. I also think we notice their comings and goings more once we start to feed them, we certainly have since we had a birdtable and feeders.

I am inundated by sparrows and so are lots of us on this side of our road here on the outskirts of London. On the other side of the road they hardly see a sparrow in their gardens which border more open parkland and farms. Very strange. They stripped all the buds from my viburnum in the spring and we still have lots of young in our bushes. A few less would be welcome because when they nest nearby they twitter endlessly from dawn till dusk. Too much of a good thing !!

I haven't seen a proper Sparrow for years - we get Dunnocks, but not sparrows.

We had sparrows nesting nearby but once their broods have gone they disappear. At least then they leave my seedlings alone.

I too live in Middlesex (Pinner borders) and have not seen a sparrow in my garden for 25 years. Strange enough there are plenty of them in other parts of Middlesex.

all the sparrows must have moved up here to wigan, i am overun with them,they take great delight in winding the dogs up by pinching the food out of the dishs when they are not looking,one of there favourite past times is dust bathing in my borders and scattering the soil every where, i would gladly lend you a couple of dozen, lol.

Yes not seen so many in our garden or even my family of blackbirds I get every year since crows have been overhead.

Why then do you think it is that they only appear en masse in certain parts of the country when they used to be the most prolific birds in England?

We had no sparrows here in Bedfordshire until about 3 weeks ago, since when there have been quite a lot. However, before that, we had a great variety of birds, including lots of goldfinches, which have now gone.
We feed them sunflower kernels which they all seem to like, and we have the added bonus of sunflowers seeding themselves beneath the feeders.

regularly visited by them and this july a pair have bred in a bird box. i assume second brood.

Just looking up from the computer and out of the window I can see masses of house sparrows on the feeders and adjacent shrubs. No problem with them here. Do you keep feeding the birds through the year?
I do understand that they are supposed to be on the decline nationally.

As I recall, the sparrow population of this country plummeted about 20 years ago, and no one knew why. The last 'reason' I heard for the cause of this event was the presence of a particular seed in bird seed mixes, which was then excluded. In the last few years, the sparrow population has increased - but I've not seen one here.

I feed birds on my feeder every day No Sparrows !!

As Bulba says we have hordes of them squabbling away, at least it sounds like that. They bring all their children for a quick, easy feed and drive the cats insane :-)

Here in the north-west, I hardly ever see a sparrow in the garden. Dunnocks, four types of tits, families of blackbirds and wrens, woodpigeons and doves and several other regular visitors, including gangs of magpies, but no sparrows. No starlings either, for years, although I have seen them on the pier (enjoying a day trip, no doubt!)

I have always understood that wild birds should not be fed during the summer months because they take the seeds , and regurgitate them into their chicks mouths, choking them. Maybe that is why there was a decline in the bird population, and unfed cats got the blame.

There are plenty of insects about for them, even in this miserable summer.

I find wondering which birds we will see most of in our garden is a lottery! Hundreds of Sparrows this year - none last year; hardly any Black Redstarts this year while we were over-run with them last year; we've been knee-deep in Jays since we moved here - this year we've seen 5; for years we only ever had one Blackbird family around - this year there are four. So maybe they find other areas annually that suit them better for breeding, nesting and feeding?

Funnily enough after the rain this morning 12 sparrows arrived on back grass pecking away .A real joy to see.

Hope ours come back they were so brave and cheeky,a joy to watch Loved the squabbling and twittering !

Diane, that was the advice until a few years ago when they changed their minds and now recommend feeding all year. The main thing to watch is that you don't feed nuts that can be taken whole as apparently that's the choking danger for the babies. We feed year round now and there are plenty of young ones around (including two woodpeckers!)

Also Diane there are plenty of insects yes but sparrows aren't really insect eaters preferring seeds and grains. We feed all year round and the nuts are in mesh tubes so that the birds can only peck a small amount from - the babies line up to be fed. Steragram we had woodpeckers on the feeders earlier in the year then one flew into the window and knocked himself out, we rescued him and he recovered but we've not seen them since. I expect they'll be back in winter.