BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: House Sparrow

HOUSE SPARROW
Passer domesticus

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 3, declining
UK: red (>50% population decline)

Long-term trend

England: rapid decline

UK population size

2,100,000–3,675,000 pairs in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06); about 6 million pairs in Britain (Robinson et al. 2005)

Status summary

The UK House Sparrow population was not monitored adequately by the CBC until 1976, partly because that scheme did not target urban areas and gardens. Data collected by CBC/BBS indicate a rapid decline in abundance over the last 25 years, as does the BTO's Garden Bird Feeding Survey more recently (Siriwardena et al. 2002). These results are supported by many other data and anecdotal reports that have generated great conservation concern (see Summers-Smith 2003). A change in the listing criteria has resulted in the admission of the species, previously green-listed, to the red list. The decline is likely to have been driven by reductions in overwinter survival (Siriwardena et al. 1999) and has been linked to a range of changes in rural and urban habitats; the causes are likely to be different in the two areas. Possible explanations for the decrease in House Sparrow abundance include general reductions in food supply, reductions in the amount of grain spilt during agricultural operations, tighter hygiene regulations, increases in predation, and the use of toxic additives in unleaded petrol (Crick et al. 2002). BBS data suggest that the species has shown increases recently in Scotland and Wales. Brood size has decreased, but nest success has improved markedly. Following widespread declines across Europe during the 1990s, the European status of this species is no longer considered 'secure' (BirdLife International 2004).

Population changes

Table of population changes for House Sparrow

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert
CBC/BBS England	26	1977-2003	408	-69	-78	-55	>50
	25	1978-2003	423	-68	-77	-53	>50
	10	1993-2003	989	-16	-24	-9
	5	1998-2003	1159	-4	-9	0
BBS UK	10	1994-2004	1275	-3	-7	2
BBS England	10	1994-2004	1059	-10	-14	-6
BBS Scotland	10	1994-2004	73	39	12	73
BBS Wales	10	1994-2004	99	100	66	141
BBS N.Ireland	10	1994-2004	38	-28	-51	6

Productivity trends

Table of productivity changes for House Sparrow

Variable	Period (yrs)	Years	Mean annual sample	Trend	Modelled in first year	Modelled in 2003	Change
Clutch size	35	1968-2003	57	None
Brood size	35	1968-2003	95	Curvilinear	3.32 chicks	2.73 chicks	-17.9%
Daily failure rate (eggs)	35	1968-2003	76	Linear decline	1.18% nests/day	0.39% nests/day	-66.9%
Daily failure rate (chicks)	35	1968-2003	75	Linear decline	1.38% nests/day	0.32% nests/day	-76.8%
Laying date	35	1968-2003	45	Linear decline	May 25	May 17	-8 days

Insufficient data for CES
available for this species

Additional information


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This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2006) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2005. BTO Research Report No. 435. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 28 April, 2006