On 03/03/2017 23:56, tony sayer wrote:
In article , Richard
Robinson scribeth thus
Dave Plowman (News) said:
Don Pearce wrote:
On 3 Mar 2017 11:14:44 GMT, Huge wrote:
On 2017-03-03, Don Pearce wrote:
On Fri, 03 Mar 2017 01:09:42 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
In article ,
Woody wrote:
More likely the abundance of grey squirrels and magpies that steal
the eggs out of the nests - and not just sparrows.

That wouldn't explain the sparrows round here disappearing so
quickly. I assumed it was some sort of virus or whatever. And if it
were predators stealing eggs, why are there so many pigeons?

No, it's farmers. They have killed all the small insects which are
the sparrows' main food source.

In Central London, where Dave lives? Lots of farms there. Not.

Doesn't matter. The surrounding countryside is where the insects bred.
Do you have another explanation for the disappearance of flying
insects?

But other bird species didn't get wiped out so quickly. Do sparrows have a
particular and picky diet? That would be odd for such a previously
successful species? In the average London garden they outnumbered all
others by a very large percentage.

It's a long time since I was in London - what's the pigeon population like ?
Is it possible they're outcompeting other species for the food ? Or seagulls
?



I think that domestic moggy's have a lot to do with it;(..


Makes sense to me, at least for my small garden.

Also, this issue of enticing/demise of small birds in urban gardens came
up on gardener's question time the other day - and at least one
mentioned cats as the single most significant cause.

--
Cheers, Rob