Count your lucky chirps, sparrow season is early
EARLY yesterday morning I dragged myself up with the dawn. Resisting the urge to follow the local election results on Twitter, I went to listen to the birds.
My area is doing a sparrow survey, you see, to count how many we have and how we might protect them. The neighbourhood is split into various zones with a resident in each who is tasked with counting sparrows over three mornings – a fortnight apart.
Despite their reputed ubiquity, house sparrows are in rather alarming decline. Last November, a report warned there are 247 million fewer across Europe compared to 1980.
Habitat loss, especially front hedges being grubbed up, a lack of nesting spots due to modern trends for immaculate (and well insulated) homes and climate change impacting on everything from body size to availability of prey are all making things worse.
The job of us volunteers is to walk the lonely streets noting every chirp of a sparrow – or better yet, a nesting location. I notched up about half a dozen or so nests yesterday and each was a thrill to discover.
The main sparrow nesting season is between April and August, with several clutches laid in a year. But it is no surprise to see the songbirds nesting so soon. This week, scientists behind the 75-year study of great tits in Oxfordshire’s Wytham Woods revealed that egg-laying has shifted forward by up to three weeks.
The oak trees are leafing earlier and the caterpillars have also recalculated their emergence accordingly. With great tit pairs needing to feed 10,000 caterpillars to their young in the fortnight between hatching and fledgling, that means they too must adjust. Such is the impact of these warm, dry Aprils, and over the coming days the balmy weather is set to continue for most. Spring, it seems, is coming around sooner every year.