US social scientist Kenneth Boulding : ‘If you believe exponential growth can go on in a finite world, you are either a madman or an economist’.

Wednesday 10 March 2010

4, 9 + 10/3/10: More House Sparrow roost counts

Following on from the March 1st Gravel Hill hedge count of 126 individuals, coming home up Thames Rd at dusk enabled me to get counts for previously noted House Sparrow roosts there.

On the 4th there were about 70 birds in the 'double layer' hedge outside 'Imagination', on the east side of Thames Rd, north of Kennet Rd. It was getting quite dark by now and the birds were fairly well settled. So much so that it was almost possible to reach out and touch them .... The lower portion of the hedge is quite dense, with more open outgrowths, and some modest-sized trees behind. The Sparrows were in these more open parts - all the favoured plants being deciduous.

I passed this site slightly earlier on the evenings of the 9th and 10th, when the birds were less settled, and may not all have been back. The counts were 56 and 43 respectively.

On the 9th my route to the Cray took me down Parkside Avenue, where it was noticeable that quite a few Sparrows were taking advantage of older eaves towards the Perry Street roundabout. Coming home that evening, 46 Sparrows were all in the top third of one 18' tree in the vegetated area inside the roundbout. On the 10th they were somewhere down in the low shrubs there.

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