Sparrows.

[Tarot]

Does anyone out there remember, about seven or eight years ago , two curious things occured . One was Chinas request for thousands of sparrows to eat the pests that were devastating their crops. Did our goverment grant it? Two at the same time the so called chefs were heavily promoting little quils that looked strangely like little sparrows to me, So this is a mystery, is it not ,where have our sparrows gone?

[Jah Lush]

I honestly can't remember the last time I saw one and they were everywhere when I was young. Parakeets are a far more common sighting there days, which is a bit weird when you think about it.

[woofmarkthedog]

Quills or Quails Tarot ?

Parakeets are officially pests now ( pigeons breathe a sigh of relief )but they are odd to say the least

They used to be "over Beckenham way" but have migrated to Wells Park now Jah

How very dare they

W**F

[PeckhamRose]

Seen a few sparrows in the park.

And in Spitalifields City Farm there are literally hundreds of them that jump out the hedges as you walk past!

[SteveT]

I am honoured by frequent visits of a family of sparrows at the nut feeder, but I see far more of the great tits.

When I was a lad they were forever making a cacophony of noise but now they are all but silent and no longer a common species.

[Sue]

I have loads of sparrows in my tiny garden.

They come to the fatballs and the peanut feeder. I've counted over twelve at a time.

Re China, when I was in Burma I was once offered a skewer of meat by a street seller, and about to accept when I noticed that each piece of "meat" on the stick had a beak and legs .... also went somewhere they had a dish with sparrow's blood on the menu.

But Tarot, surely quails are much bigger than sparrows?

Edited to add: My sparrows aren't silent, they are extremely noisy, they sit in the shrubs and chatter continuously.

[SteveT]

I bet they sit quietly when the sparrow-hawk is doing his rounds. The garden looks uninhabited when the hawks are about.

[Sue]

Sparrow hawk got a starling in my garden last year. Maybe that's why the starlings don't come any more!

[Tarot]

I stand corrected Wolf. I meant quails. The birds I saw in the supermarket looked more like tiny sparrows. instead of quails,. Ive also had vivid yellow parrots fly over the gardens, Someone said foreigners have released them for some kind of festivals!. I have also seen a beautiful but deadly Sparrowhawk. Of course there are not enough hedges or plants and trees like there used to be for the birds.