Birds and wildlife

House Sparrow

Passer domesticusGroup: old world sparrowsUK Conservation status:Red

How to identify

These noisy and sociable birds are found around the world, thanks to their cheerful ability to make the most of humanity's rubbish and wastefulness. But monitoring suggests a severe decline in the UK House Sparrow population, recently estimated as dropping by 71% between 1977 and 2008 with large falls in both rural and urban populations. Their numbers are still dropping in England, Breeding Bird Survey data indicates recent population increases in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Call

House Sparrow

Jarek Matusiak / xeno-canto

Protect Our Birds, Defend Our Nature

They’ve lived alongside humans for thousands of years, and they’ve also taken the top spot of the Big Garden Birdwatch for more than 20 years. But House Sparrows are a lot rarer than they used to be. Since 1970, almost 30 million House Sparrows have vanished from the UK, which means they’re now on the UK Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern. They’re doing particularly badly in cities but are one of the birds which really benefit from nature-friendly urban-gardening. The RSPB focuses on sharing information about nest boxes, planting wildflowers, and letting areas of your garden grow wild to try and encourage more people to create space for birds like House Sparrows. 

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Key

  1. Resident
  2. Passage
  3. Summer
  4. Winter
* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

Where best to see them

Key facts