Adur House Sparrow Page

15 April 2004
The Sparrows have been working at a feverish pitch to complete the nests in my south Lancing garden. (TQ 186 044). A favourite component has been the soft white seed heads of pampas grass. The birds have collected beakfulls of the material and are reminiscent of little mandarins with white whiskers as the carry the seed off to the nests.

Report by Ray Hamblett on Lancing Nature Notes
Lancing Nature

10 April 2004
Steady rain is a bit of a dampener, but the House Sparrows are not perturbed chattering away immediately outside my first floor window in Corbyn Crescent in Shoreham.
Garden Pond and Wildlife Garden

28 March 2004
A pair of House Sparrows are attracted to a Firethorn bush in the back garden at 40 The Drive (near Buckingham Park), Shoreham-by-Sea, (TQ  219 063). They were originally thought to be nesting, but no nest was discovered.  It appears there is a juvenile House Sparrow. Only one Sparrow appears to be feeding, picking at peanuts in preference to sunflower seeds.
Garden Web Page

5 March 2004
Two House Sparrows chased each other from the Leylandii hedge and over the fence (near the Firethorn), their half-a-second appearance the first of the year in the back garden at 40 The Drive (near Buckingham Park), Shoreham-by-Sea, (TQ  219 063).

27 February 2004
House Sparrows are seen around St. Mary's Churchyard, Shoreham, where there are lots of trees. However, these are not in the noisy numbers of the open spaces of Adur.

26 February 2004
House Sparrows chirping at my bedroom window in Corbyn Crescent in Shoreham as they have done every spring for at least the last twenty years (and probably for over 70 years). They occasionally get into the loft.
Town & Gardens 2004

25 February 2004
There was a noisy racket of House Sparrows in the greenery near the entrance of the Ricardo factory, immediately west of the Toll Bridge, Old Shoreham. This a regular habitat for Sparrows. Prime area.

House Sparrows flock in the shrubs near the railway on the southern part of New Monks Farm, Lancing.

Report by Ray Hamblett (Lancing Nature)
23 February 2004
House Sparrows were seen in small flocks in the bushes around the green near Kingston Broadway (east Shoreham), and heard in the bushes around Glebelands, Middle Road, Shoreham.

21 February 2004
Up in Shermanbury we never see House Sparrows.                                                                               Report by Allen Pollard
No sparrows in my town Garden (backs on to Queens Place near Shoreham railway station) but a few seen in Buckingham Road.

Report by Dave Mason
20 February 2004
The Government have backed a plan to encourage the increase in the House Sparrow population.
BBC News Report
In the Adur area flocks of House Sparrows seem to be usually in small flocks between 20 and 30 in number. They can be overlooked but they make such a racket in the scrubbery that is hard to miss hearing them. It might be worth making a note of where the flocks are to be found, e.g.
On the Adur Levels along the cyclepath (old railway track) south-east of the Toll Bridge where three flocks up to about 85 birds are regularly seen. Prime area.
Flitting around in the shrubbery where they can be clearly seen between Widewater Lagoon and the shingle beach. There are more in winter but flocks could be expected all through the year. Prime area.
In the towns and gardens the distribution of House Sparrows is decidedly patchy and there seem to be more in the partly industrial areas and near the railway tracks. They are common in Dolphin Road and Corbyn Crescent in Shoreham and in North Farm Road, Lancing, but these are just the places where they have been recorded and there are undoubtably many others. North Farm Road, Lancing, is a prime area for House Sparrows.
House Sparrows have not been recorded so far this year in the garden bird survey in a garden near Buckingham Park.
 

Link to the Adur Nature Notes 2004 Index page