"martin" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 00:35:47 +0100, "Tumbleweed"
wrote:



House sparrows were the most common bird for the second year in a row,
although sightings are falling. An average 4.56 sparrows were spotted
per garden this year, compared to an average of 10 in 1979, the first
year of the survey.



hmmmm, sparrows decrease, sparrow hawks increase ...see if you can work
out
the connection. .

... how many sparrow hawks does it take to eat millions of sparrows
per year??
--
Martin

Don't know but the sparrow hawk has about twenty each year from our garden,
the sparrow colony is thriving they have 4 or more broods a year, but it
keeps the numbers roughly static.
It hunts over the pond area and has a particular line of attack, the
sparrows seem to know this and avoid crossing the area (well the smart ones
do) preferring to progress through the shrubs and trees its mostly when they
are fighting they get taken in the open.
I would have thought the decline more to do with food supply, the
countryside is a lot tidier than it used to be.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)