As a child I recall watching large numbers of house sparrows in the garden of the house (in the North of England, as regular readers will know) my parents rented. There was a large wall with gaps where they could set up nests in the spring. Often at the foot of the wall in April and May you would find a young sparrow that had fallen from its nest, and would be abandoned by its parents. Death could be painful and not always sudden - a horrible lesson for a sensitive child to learn.
The "common" house sparrow is common no more. Its numbers have diminished sharply, almost synchronised with the inexorable growth of human population across the globe which we steadfastly (and incorrectly IMHO) refuse to regard as a problem.
Not all birds have suffered the same fate though. The common pigeon has thrived, often taking advantage of the mess that human beings create. Somewhat less aloof than the sparrows, they will occasionally ingratiate themselves with passing humans who seem friendly enough to bring along food. Their self-preservation techniques are though quite pronounced. If a human is a threat they soon notice it - in fact they are often more in danger from their own species, observe some of the quite vicious fights that break out among them.
In our neighbourhood the less common, but more attractive and definitely more aloof, wood pigeon is a frequent visitor. There are also sparrows, hedge sparrows more often than the house sparrow though. Down by the river Main there used to be a mixture of thick bushes and trees where every year large numbers of these sparrows would come to breed. As this year the powers that be decided (for reasons best known to themselves) to trim the bushes, that breeding colony has been notably absent sadly.
Which has left the river to the usual ducks (of various kinds - some seem obviously to have been imported from East Asia, I doubt whether they would have flown that far), geese and a few graceful swans (advise your children not to provoke swans incidentally, their self-preservation instincts are extremely pronounced). Duck numbers seem to be down (that is maybe just my impression), which may be a bad sign.
Occasionally a gull appears following the river - usually they appear quite lost, and the sea is a long way away- this is hardly the place for them to be breeding. Also the grey heron, a common bird in the Netherlands when I lived there, will put in an appearance, but they are not frequent visitors.
The bird family that perhaps most represents the region are the crows, particularly ravens. Large, magnificently black, smart and intelligent if hardly tuneful. The "caws" are surely more attention grabbing than a tune to attract a mate. They seem relatively unfazed by human presence at times, and definitely have "presence". The numbers seemed to be down last year, this year seems to be back to normal. I live in hope that they will thrive, they are fascinating creatures to observe.
June is on us, the breeding season in Europe is almost complete, but still the odd male blackbird is out there trying to sing its way into the heart of a passing female.
Perhaps one of my last fond memories is of the time when I lived on the Scheldeplein in Amsterdam. In 2001 I was commuting with my job everyday to Capelle-aan-den-Ijssel the other side of Rotterdam. This meant getting up at 5 o'clock and leaving the house at quarter to six. In April that year, I recall opening the door one morning (just before sunrise) and being greeted with the "Dawn Chorus" - the whole square was awakened to the tune of dozens of birds singing. It is a phenomenon known in the English countryside, but one you do not instantly associate with a square in a suburban area.
A glorious moment, one I was to enjoy for a couple of weeks afterwards (I deliberately left the apartment early to stand and just listen for a couple of minutes). As we continue to destroy the planet for other species, I hope that it is something that we will not lose. Nature in all its glory has much to recommend it, and birds are more than a significant part of that.
Postscript (December 10, 2021). The number of ducks on the river has diminished sharply in the past 10 years. The number of geese, particularly Canada geese, has, though, rocketed. I am not sure whether those two facts are related.
Meanwhile the ravens are back in increased numbers, particularly close to the local LIDL supermarket.
No comments:
Post a Comment