I have a small flock, not sure how many there are, who come every day and bring their young in the spring/summer. I call them the 'rat pack' as they are bossy little things and like to chase other birds away, so it serves them right when the tables are turned and the blackbirds chase them !
when i was a young lad you couldn't leave the house without hearing them chirping away so abundant then (in the 50s) now so rare. apart from two rock pigeons and a blackbird,who every year for 5 years has brought its single youngster to feed when is got one that's about it for us,
We have a fair few in the neighbour hood and with a number of overgrown gardens and the council no longer cutting all the grass so there are plenty of seeds there numbers are increasing. I am too high up for visits but I do get blue tits, great tits, the occasional robin and recently goldfinches. I am hoping the long tails will find the feeders this winter.
I often get a dozen or so sparrows as they nest next door every year.
Had them all in the bird bath at once the other day. Chaos!
Flocks of goldfinches back, too. Twenty on the feeders. Adults and young.
Trouble is a male sparrowhawk arrived and the garden was silent. He caught something but I couldn't see what it was.
OK stop boasting OK? I'm soooo jealous.
I remember as a child, my lovely grandmother, after meals, used to take the tablecloth outside and shake any crumbs off onto the floor. The sparrows would all be waiting on the shed roof and would swoop down to take the pickings. Wonderful.
The same shed roof in the winter would have icicles of 18" long, or longer.