Pipits are dull brown birds allied to the wagtails, bob around a bit. Little brown jobs all three regular species here, probably need an electron microscope to tell them for sure.
Whitethroats are fairly dull have quite a long tail which they bob, but I've never positively identified one. Long-tailed tits aren't remotely sparrow coloured.

I've changed my birdseeds this year, and we have attracted an entirely different crowd from usual. Goldfinches are now the most common bird in my garden. I used to put out niger seeds, but they didn't attract them, it is pre-shelled sunflower seeds that has pulled them in, the lazy wotsits. Siskins and bramblings have been frequent, birds which I had not positively identified before. I initially mistook the bramblings for (winter plumage) linnets, which we have had occasionally in the past.