Helpston's wildlife

Tree Sparrow

Similar to a house sparrow in appearance, the tree sparrow [click to listen] has become, in recent years, a distinctive feature of Helpston's bird life.

A once common bird of hedge and field, John Clare wrote about tree sparrows noting

Henderson saw a pair of tree sparrows agen open wood they are very like the house sparrows but smaller. They build in old willow trees and make a nest and lay eggs very like the others but they never haunt the villages.

Tree sparrows suffered a catastrophic 90% decline in population during the 1980s and 1990s, probably due to agricultural intensification, although there is evidence that this bird has historically had a boom and bust population.

More recently the population has bounced back somewhat nationally with Helpston becoming a particular stronghold for this bird locally. A small flock of 10 birds appeared at Swaddywell Pit in 2002 and there were over 60 there in the winter of 2004/5 and between 6-80 in 2005/6.

And contrary to John Clare, there is also now a small breeding population in the village itself with birds coming regularly to garden feeders. Tree sparrows take readily to nest boxes and can raise up to three broods of young each year, although their nests are some of the messiest you can find.

Interestingly although tree sparrows are seed eaters during the winter, they raise their young mainly on insects.