In article , Bob Hobden
writes

? wrote in message
I have some news that I know you'll be interested in, Mike, about the
house
sparrow project. Kate rang me last night, she is now writing up her
conclusions.
The conclusion is, lack of aphids and invertebrates as the main cause of
the
house sparrow decline, lack of nestsites also.
Thanks for this Christina. I have discussed this with loads of friends
over the years, and all are agreed that there are far fewer flies of
many kinds than ~30 years ago. The next question is why ?
((SNIP))

Not so sure about that, the only place they are in abundance near here is by
our allotment site along the lane which is bordered by gardens for the old
peoples bungalows. Some of these people still put bread out every day for
the birds!
Everyone used to do that in the old days and it was the house sparrow that
got the main share.
Now everyone buys expensive seed for their garden birds, perhaps part of the
decline is because people have got too posh.

Chickens? Large flocks of sparrows used to share food put out for laying
hens. The salmonella scare, low priced supermarket eggs, less domestic
waste food, fear of fox predation and perhaps longer holidays all
contribute to fewer opportunities for birds long associated with human
habitation.

Improved hygiene requirements for the storage of food on farms both for
animal and human consumption has eliminated this food source.

The RSPB often refers to changes in farm practice as being responsible
for the decline in many birds associated with farmland/buildings. In the
case of sparrows this may be more due to *rationalisation* where many
small mixed farms have become bijou country dwellings with the land
going to bigger and more efficient neighbours. The buildings are still
there but the poultry, cattle and sheep have gone. The riding horses
that replace them are not fed ad lib and are too closely supervised for
opportunistic birds.

Magpies are unlikely to be involved due to the sparrows nesting
preference and sparrow hawks take many small birds other than sparrows.

I believe we are moving toward a revised population balance in many
species that formerly relied heavily on human carelessness for their
food and nest sites.

regards

--
Tim Lamb