…about house sparrows
ONE: commonly called house sparrow, their scientific name is Passer domesticus; they are members of the family Passeridae, the Old World sparrows.
TWO: the house sparrow was among the first animals to be given a scientific name in the modern system of classification; it was described and named by Carl Linnaeus, in 1758.
THREE: at the moment, there are around 5.3 million breeding pairs of house sparrows in the UK, but in the late 1960s that number was close to 16 million. Although they are still one of the most common of our native birds, they are now Red Listed as a species of high conservation concern in need of urgent action.
FOUR: house sparrows are strongly associated with human habitation. They like to nest in holes in buildings, but modern houses are built without the cavities they favour, while older houses are often updated by covering or filling such potential nest sites: one of the many reasons for the dramatic fall in house sparrow numbers.
FIVE: while the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and parts of Asia, its intentional or accidental introduction to many regions makes it the world’s most widely distributed wild bird.
SIX: there are 12 subspecies of house sparrow.
SEVEN: house sparrows were introduced into North America in 1852. They were released in New York City in an attempt to control a plague of linden moth caterpillars.
EIGHT: the house sparrow is a very social bird, feeding and roosting in flocks that can number thousands. They nest in colonies around and inside buildings. The rafters of railway stations and roof structures of agricultural barns are favoured sites but successful nests have been recorded in an English coal mine, 640 metres below ground.
NINE: female house sparrows are dominant. They fight over feeding stations, nest sites and in the breeding season they fight over males.
TEN: left to their own devices, house sparrows are seed eaters, and in the UK countryside research has shown that their diet is 90% seeds. But it is an opportunistic and adaptable species that eats whatever foods are available from bird feeders, trash cans, street gutters and wasteland.
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 
I have a really noisy flock of sparrows in my garden.
Lucky you! They like trees in a garden and prefer a general untidiness.
I have elder and an apple tree.
That must be why I have sparrows, I have lots of trees and plenty of general untidiness! PS. In the past few days I was pleased to seen a chaffinch and a greenfinch family in the garden, the first in recent years! Barbara Johnson
Both chaffinches and green finches seem to be recovering from the trichomonosis outbreak. Perhaps we will begin to see their numbers rise now, and perhaps the survivors will have developed some resistance with which to face down the next outbreak.