sparrows © Darin Smith

Sparrow spotting

As a result of our work with Bristol Bird Watch we’ve been approached by Lorna Shaw of the University of Exeter. Lorna is managing a project which aims to try and explain why sparrows have disappeared from many urban areas in the UK.

Sparrows are traditionally one of the most common and recognisable birds in towns and cities, but since the mid 1980’s house sparrow populations have declined in urban areas. The house sparrow is now on the IUCN red list for species of special conservation concern, as numbers have decreased from around 13million pairs in the 1970s to six million pairs by the late 1990’s.

Part of this decline is due to lack of food in more rural areas, but the causes of decline in urban populations are unknown. I plan to compare areas within Bristol that have no sparrows, and areas where sparrows are still common to isolate factors that might explain the decline. I hope to do this by recruiting local volunteers to provide information about their homes and gardens. I will then compare this information with data on sparrow numbers in different areas of Bristol to see if any patterns become apparent. If you’d like to take part in this survey please contact Lorna on ls244@exeter.ac.uk