Schools and youth groups around Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie are coming together with RSPB Scotland and BSW Timber to create new homes for tree sparrows.
The nestbox workshop, which has been organised during the BTO’s National Nestbox Week, takes place today (17 February), and is part of a wider project to help tree sparrows throughout Dumfries and Galloway.
Although similar in appearance to house sparrows, tree sparrows are a much rarer species, which has suffered a population decline of up to 90% in the UK since the 1960s. The most recent national survey suggests that they are now slowly recovering in East Scotland and North-East England, but elsewhere numbers are still low.
RSPB Scotland’s Julia Gallagher, said: “While early signs of a recovery in the tree sparrow population are encouraging, we need to do more locally to help support these great little birds. They’re very much a rural species, and are dependent on farmland and wetland areas for food and for places to live and breed, but we know they’ll happily use nestboxes when they’re provided.
“With all the help we’re going to receive from local children, we’re hoping our workshop will produce up to 100 nestboxes to send out to farms, schools and rural homes, where we’ve identified existing tree sparrow populations that need a bit of help.
“The workshop wouldn’t be possible without the generous donation of materials from BSW Timber through their Dalbeattie branch.”
RSPB Scotland is also working with local farmers, landowners and communities, advising on other ways to support tree sparrows, including changing cropping patterns.
Tree sparrows can be differentiated from house sparrows by their prominent black cheek spot, and unlike house sparrows, adult males and females are virtually identical. They are a hole nesting species and can have up to three broods between April and August. The parents share incubation duties, which last for 28 days, and young birds are fed by the adults on insects and seeds until fledging.
Great places to see tree sparrows locally include RSPB Scotland Mersehead, the National Trust for Scotland’s Threave Gardens and WWT Caerlaverock. You may also be lucky enough to see them at your garden feeders, so look closely next time you spot a sparrow.
Main photo Juvenile Tree sparrow RSPB Mersehead reserve copyright Kirsty Griffiths RSPB
