Big News!

Well it won't be big news for anyone else but it is for me!

In our old house, although our front garden was not really a garden at all, just a small bit of concrete and shingle between the pavement and the front door, it contained my most succesful wildlife-friendly project of the house.  Back in 2013 I planted some roots of a Privet hedge which were dug up from a garden in Exeter.   

Our old front garden in 2012...

White door

 

And again in about 2022 (same white door!).  It got even bushier than this, far exceeding the darker neighbours hedge in height by the time we moved out...

So happy with it!

 

This hedge gave the garden a new lease of life, and after hanging a fat ball feeder near it, it soon became a focal point for the local House Sparrows.  We would get so much enjoyment watching up to twenty at a time from our sofa, and really grew fond of them.  There were even a couple that would tap their beaks on the front window when the feeder became empty...honestly! 

So, now we are in our lovely new house, which as I have already blogged about has a lovely garden. Lots of green, lots of shrubs and bushes, and as a result a much more varied list of visiting bird species - completely different to our old place.  However one species that I have really been missing is House Sparrow.

Frustratingly, from our back garden I can see to the next street behind, where a small colony of House Sparrows seem very content and are pretty much always audible from the garden.  My goal from day one has been to tempt them 30 meters south west to our back garden, but despite a mass of fat balls they have proved reluctant to move.  

Well that was until I relocated one of my feeders so it would be visible to the Sparrows when they're in their current favoured spot, and on Saturday just gone...

Well hello there, what kept you so long!?

 

So that was two male House Sparrows visiting, and Jess has seen two males and female briefly drop in on another day.  Neither times have they stayed long, but both times they've used the feeder and on the second visit one of the males dived into one of our bushes for cover.  So am now confident it is only a matter of time until we feature on their routine feeding circuit. 

So thrilled!