A flock of my own!

For several years now there have been reports that some of our most popular garden birds are under threat due to loss of habitat and food sources. This includes our chirpy friend, the house sparrow whose numbers have taken a dive and nobody is sure why this is. Some of it may be due to loss of suitable places to nest, some is down to the loss of natural food sources and some is probably due to increasing numbers of predators such as sparrow hawks.
Well, I'm one of the lucky ones! I've been feeding birds in my garden for the past twenty six years or so and I think that successive generations of the house sparrow now have a built in 'instinct' to find their way to the bird table in my garden. I have always had a small flock of house sparrows as well as assorted other garden birds but this year the numbers have swelled tremendously. I think they have reared at least three lots of chicks so the numbers are now in the region of fifty or maybe more.
It's so relaxing and entertaining to watch them when they come to feed and as a flock they are extremely clever. There have been sparrow hawks in the area for several years and in fact I have even had them sitting on the top of the bird table in the past waiting for tea. The sparrows (I call them the 'Chip Chip' gang because of their chirpy call) always know when there is danger because they come over to the garden about a dozen at a time and conceal themselves in the honeysuckle then the next lot join them. They feed quickly and silently then all congregate in the honeysuckle before leaving in small gangs as they had arrived. I think they know where the sparrow hawk patrols and when he's about they all stay very quiet and hide themselves.
It's lovely on warm, sunny afternoons when there isn't any danger because they are far more relaxed as they come over to the garden to feed. Then they take it in turns to have a communal bath in the water lily tub and sit on the fence in the sun to preen themselves while drying off.
I feel honoured to have a flock of my own even if they do cost quite a bit in feed. Their favourites include some of Bill Oddie's mealworm crumble, mealworm suet treats and sunflower kernels as well as mixed seed in the feeders and their own peanut feeder.