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'Make East End a bird haven to save the Cockney sparrow'
Ruth Bloomfield10 Aug 2009
A bid to save one of London's best-loved birds from extinction has been launched.
Operation Cockney Sparrow is based in the East End and sees volunteers and conservationists attempting to turn inner-city housing estates into bird havens. A recent study from the RSPB showed house sparrow numbers have dropped almost 70 per cent in the capital since 1994.
The London Wildlife Trust is working with the Peabody Estate to make Whitechapel, Hackney and King's Cross sparrow-friendly, with the help of Lottery funding.
Hawthorn and blackthorn will be planted and grasses and flowers added to attract sparrows' food: aphids, caterpillars and weevils. Residents are being enlisted to help make roosting boxes to attract bats, swifts and house martins and to record sparrow numbers.
Mark Pearson, from the London Wildlife Trust, said: "Sparrows need our help sooner rather than later, and there are lots of small ways we can help them."
Reader views (5)
Steve O seems to talk a lot of sense, though the lack of awareness displayed by Justin is sad. If he wants to eradicate predatory species, he should seriously consider starting with the domestic cat, which is infinitely more damaging to city songbird populations than any bird of prey. Moreover, he should further consider that the cat is a species introduced my man, therefore, by definition, not "natural".
- Mike Pearson, East Yorkshire, England, 23/08/2009 14:21
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Justin - where is the evidence that the recovering sparrowhawk population is the main cause of the decline in house sparrows? I have never seen a sparrowhawk near my home, but our urban sparrow population has visibly decreased. Your proposition that biology lessons teach us that a predator/prey relationship is supposed to be balanced is a misunderstanding of the relationship. It is a naturally fluctuating one, especially where one half of it has been missing for many decades. These birds evolved mutually meaning their continued mutual existence far from being exclusive, is in fact prerequisite for both populations to remain healthy, and we must look to other factors for any decline, even if the increasing predator population is one of the factors. I suspect your prejudice against birds of prey may be motivated by more than a fondness of sparrows, or would you support the reintroduction of the higher predators you mention in order to further restore the natural ecosystem?
- Steve O, London UK, 11/08/2009 11:48
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For all these initiatives the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB continue to ignore the fact that the decline of sparrows most closely correlates with the exponential growth in population of sparrow-hawks since the 1960s and 70s. Habitat is a factor, but not the biggest.
Sparrow-hawks and sparrows do NOT live a natural balance, as the RSPB and your school biology lesson would lead you to believe, because the sparrowhawks simply diversify into eating pigeons and small mammals when they've taken all of the local sparrows and song-birds. And, of course, there aren't any large predators anymore (eagle family etc) who might prey on the sparrowhawks themselves, or compete for the other things that sparrowhawks have expanded into.
Sparrowhawks always used to be controlled by gamekeepers and farmers, and seldom spread into cities, but since their protection the population is out of control.
Plant more hedges all you like, but you'll simply be providing extra food for the hawks. If anyone wants to see more sparrows and songbirds, remove the sparrow-hawk's protection!
- Justin, London, 10/08/2009 16:07
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Brilliant. I saw a flock of sparrows for the first time in ages yesterday..That was in West London. I havn't seen a hedgehog now for years. Loads of foxes though.
- Mark H, London England, 10/08/2009 12:48
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It's great to see local people working together to save this lovely little bird.
- Phil, London, UK, 10/08/2009 10:52
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