It seems to have been a good breeding season in Ashton-in-Makerfield town centre, as there were 43 feeding on the market banking yesterday, mostly, if not all, juveniles. This is the largest number I can recall seeing there, though there was a decent roost there last winter.
There's a very healthy population in our street but then again there always has been. My own theory on this is because there are still a lot of privet hedges that the birds like to roost in. It's probably been a good breeding year though as the weather has been good for most of the summer.
We seem to have had a massive sparrow explosion this year. Gone from 3 - 4 birds to daily flocks of 50 +. Whilst we have changed our feed regime, and this almost certainly is influencing the number of birds in the garden, it is a massive jump
Is it just us, our area or are other people seeing a big increase in sparrows?