October 23rd

Tree sparrow

I was working at home today and while gazing out of the window during a lengthy phone call I noticed one of the sparrows that was in my rose hedge was a tree sparrow. I have had tree sparrows flying over high but this is the first time I have actually had one in the garden. Like the corn buntings, the tree sparrows seem to have done really well this year. As I wrote in August there are lots of the post-breeding flocks about all around Crail. For example, I saw a good size flock of 30 or so at the yellow house at Wormiston, and another of 20 or so at Fife Ness this weekend. It makes me want to get some sparrow nest boxes up – I would be happy with house sparrows but if I could get tree sparrows… It has got colder over the last couple of days so it is probably time to put out the bird seed and peanuts for the winter and that will help lure any tree sparrows looking for a new home.