Garden Visitor

Sadly we ended up with one less House Sparrow last week as Margaret spotted this Sparrowhawk plucking its victim on the ground behind the picnic table. The House Sparrow has suffered major declines, along with many other species, lately and combined with our neighbour Liz we have tried to make our gardens as "spuggy friendly" as possible. The best advice I can give is to let those trees and hedges get a little unkempt and put some food and water out and they will do well. Ours have. Being next to a major dual carriageway heading into Newcastle we don't get a huge variety of species so a visit from a Sparrowhawk is welcome, even at the expense of one of our cherished residents. They have done reasonably well again this year and this is nature in action after all.