Cause For Concern

Despite being one of our most common birds, the House Sparrow is in danger – numbers have fallen dramatically since the 1970s. Ian Parsons investigates why

- Ian Parsons

The House Sparrow, thanks to deliberate and not so deliberate introductions, is the most widely distributed bird in the world. In Britain, we have a population of more than five million pairs, making them one of our commonest species; they are familiar to us all, whether we live in the heart of the city or deep in the countryside. Yet, if you look at the data, these are birds that are in big trouble, especially in England. So what is going on with the House Sparrow?

The sad truth is that this common bird has experienced a drastic decline in numbers since the 1970s, it may still be a common bird, and a population of more than five million pairs sounds impressively large, but when you compare it to the 12 million pairs that we had in Britain in the 1970s you start to see there is a problem. A big problem.

If the humble, ubiquitous Sparrow continues to decline at that rate it will be extinct in Britain within my lifetime. Surely, as I sit here writing this, listening to the House Sparrows in my garden squabbling over the food, that can’t happen, can it? The House Sparrow’s native range is large, extending throughout Europe and into Russia and Asia, down into the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula, as well as encompassing India and Bangladesh. Thanks to deliberate introductions, the bird has spread right across the globe.

In America, it was first introduced from England into New York City to control the caterpillars of the Linden Moth which were ravaging the many Lime trees planted within the city.

This wasn’t the best of plans, not least because, other than when they are feeding their chicks, the diet of the House Sparrow is very much seed-based (although they have now readily adapted to exploit our untidy ways when it comes to rubbish and food) and not caterpillar-based!