Sparrow boxes and greening front gardens

23 April 24 Last October we held a Zoom meeting to discuss how sparrows are in need of nesting sites. House sparrows are on the red list of endangered birds and in an effort to help, we have used some of our Co-op Community Funding to buy bird boxes for the front of houses in Brentford. Sparrows need greenery, for protection and for insects, so the idea is to also green up our front gardens to encourage them to nest. This improves air quality locally and provides green corridors of our streets. Thanks so much to the Co-op for this funding and to neighbours who sanded and varnished the plywood boxes and have helped install them too. Take a look at the video we made and read more about the project here.

We bought 5 Woodstone sparrow boxes and 14 of the plywood sparrow terrace boxes. You will see them up on the front of houses on Avenue Road, Latewood Road, Brook Road South, Orchard Road, Hamilton Road, York Road, Layton Road, South Ealing Road and Braemar Road. Sparrows nest several times each year, so there is still time for feathery tenants to move in. We could potentially buy a second round of boxes, if you are interested in having one on the front of your house and greening your front garden, do get in touch with us.

We bought the bird boxes from CJ Birdfoods. They have an amazing livestream of nesting boxes for different types owl and birds of prey in Holland which is quite entertaining. It’s in partnership with Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of their Dutch partner Vogelbescherming. Currently one of the three Tawney Owl chicks has fledged and those remaining in the nest are being well fed in preparation for their own future ventures.

We also purchased a swift nesting box but haven’t yet found a location for it. If you know of a public facing space, high up and with a free flight path in to the nest, then let us know.

Information about Sparrow and Swift nest boxes

Thurs 5 October 2023 In London, sparrow numbers fell by 60% between 1994 and 2004. House sparrows and swifts are now on the red list of conservation. We are planning to find funding to buy some sparrow and swift boxes in relation to greening front gardens, see our previous blog post, but before we do so we wanted to find out a bit more about these boxes.

Paul Richens who has been successful in having sparrow boxes on Orchard Road in Brentford kindly gave a talk about the birds and shared his experience with us. It’s an interesting watch, if you can spare 15 minutes: Watch Paul’s YouTube video here.

Paul’s answers to our questions can be found here.

A brief summary of Q&A:

Sparrows
• Do the sparrows live in the box all year round? Yes
• Do they just use the boxes to nest in and lay eggs? They nest in Spring and Summer and live in the boxes over Winter too.
• When do the baby birds hatch and fledge? They can have up to 3 clutches between March and July.
• What’s the best environment for their surrounds? A friendly one, with greenery for protection from predators and a source of insects. They also like bird baths and some grit to help digest their food.
• Does it matter if the box faces north, east, south, west? It used to matter if they faced the sun (south facing) but they are so desperate now they will use boxes in any aspect.
• Do you need to do anything to maintain the bird boxes, ie cleaning them, or do they do that themselves? Yes it’s recommended to clean the boxes out in October/November, to prevent parasites and ticks, by lifting the roof lid and emptying the box and putting a little sawdust in it. If you don’t they will build a nest on top of the old one.
• How noisy are they and do they generally tweet at certain times of the day? They are noisy, they like to chirp at dawn, this can be 3am when the sun comes up in the summer, throughout the day, and again before they go to bed.
• Are they messy? They do make mess (we all do), so it’s best not to position the box over your front door. The droppings can fall on to your front garden and are good for fertiliser. Paul also sweeps up his neighbour’s front garden occasionally to make sure there isn’t mess there.

Swifts
• What’s the best location for their bird boxes? Swifts fly high and only nest high and generally in the same location they were born in. They are fascinating birds which only touch land when they nest, otherwise they do everything while still flying. They sleep in flight by turning off half of their brain and then the other half of the brain. They normally live in Africa and we only see them in the UK between May and July when they migrate here to breed, then they fly back to Africa again.

This link shows sightings of swifts: https://www.swiftmapper.org.uk/

We would like to do initiative in relation to greening front gardens, to make green corridors, to help with air quality, biodiversity and of course the birds. Here are some examples of greening from Brentford and the inspirational Bonnington Square in Vauxhall for suggestions and ideas. If you have any other questions about sparrows or swifts do let us know and we’ll ask Paul and add them to the list above.

Greening your front garden for sparrows and swifts

It’s possible to green your front gardens and provide a much needed home for nesting sparrows at the same time. Air Quality Brentford would like to apply for a grant, or use existing funding, to purchase some sparrow terraces and swift boxes to give away to residents with the hope that this can be done in conjunction with greening front gardens.

If you have walked down Orchard Road in Brentford you might have noticed the sound of tweeting birds (without this you may well hear the sound of traffic). Some of the residents on this road have made special efforts to provide a suitable environment in their front gardens for sparrows. In London, sparrow numbers fell by 60% between 1994 and 2004. The house sparrow is now on the red list of conservation concern, as are swifts which fly from Africa to the UK to nest in the summer.
We’d love to replicate the sound of singing birds to other roads and MakeBrentfordGreener at the same time. If you think you could get involved let us know and we’ll try to offer some advice.

If you would like to express an interest in a free sparrow and/or swift bird box for your front garden, please mail us at airqualitybrentford@hotmail.com in the first instance.

How to help sparrows

A natural approach is to use Ivy which the birds can nest in, but not everyone wants a wall of ivy. Another approach is to install a nest-box or a terrace box with several compartments each at the front of your house just below roof level. The more greenery you can provide around the nests the better so they can feed on insects.

Putting up a nest box for swifts

Swift chicks make very little mess or noise, and you can either buy or make your own box. Swifts need an unobstructed flyway, at least 5m above the ground, to which they zoom in at high speeds!
Find information about making your own box at http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeswiftswelcome or buy a swift box from the RSPB shop.