Our scruffy lawn is fizzing with sparrows. For weeks they’ve roamed the garden in gangs, dust-bathing in the raised beds, fossicking and bickering in the untidiest corners. They come to this well-stocked builders’ merchant for its grasses, leaves, moss and feathers – even shreds of twine pulled from the apple espalier ties – to construct and line their loosely woven nests.
Over by the greenhouse, two females are engaged in a tug-of-war over a strand of dead grass. On the patio, a male cocks his head and gives me an appraising stare. House sparrows (unlike many garden bird species) share building duties between the sexes, and this particular male is a connoisseur of fresh grass. He keeps returning to the edge of the lawn to gather soft leaf blades in his bill. They droop down either side of his black bib, giving him the air of a portly gentleman sporting luxurious green whiskers.
In the honeysuckle there’s a squabble of spuggies in a disorderly queue. The tangled climber is shedding its skin, moulting tan-grey fibres that the sparrows and starlings peel away in thin strips. One of the females flies over the fence trailing her ribbons of bark. I watch covetously as she disappears under next door’s eaves – one of their regular nest sites.
Several years back, we put up two sparrow terraces – each a row of three nest boxes – hoping to lure a few pairs to our side of the fence. One mid-terrace housed a colony of tree bumblebees. Blue tits raised chicks in the same box the following year. But no sparrows came.
This spring, the signs are more promising. A couple of weeks ago, a male began inspecting the left-hand box, wisps of dried grass in his beak. Dithering at the hole, he feinted entry once, twice. When he finally crossed the threshold then reappeared moments later, empty-billed, I rejoiced. Frenetic building work ensued and now his mate is filching feathers from the chicken run, braving the outraged squawks of Moss, Cumulus and Burnet – our Orpington bantams – as she lines her nest with their fluffy castoffs. One well-appointed end-terrace – sold.
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