When you're on your own

The house sparrow is quite a sly creature. Although not territorial among fellow sparrows, they often pick on other birds nesting near them. Evicting house martins from their carefully architected nests is relatively common and since both species use roofs and eaves to make a home there is always plenty of nearby martins to bully. Once they have found a suitable nesting spot sparrows will collect feathers to line their nests, sometimes aggressively from the backs of living pigeons!

This underhand behaviour hasn't been able to save sparrows from a massive decline throughout the UK in the last 30 years and has subsequently see the species moved to the IUCN red list. Changes in how houses are built and agricultural practices have created problems for the gutsiest of garden birds.

Norman MacCaig sums up the sparrow in a fantastic poem - stripping finesse, placing sparrows in the 'working class' of birds. Seen in this light you can't help but remain optimistic.

"He carries what learning he has lightly - it is, in fact, based only on the usefulness whose result is survival. A proletarian bird. No scholar."

Looks a pretty forlorn figure. I really like your angle of attack here and the narrow plane of focus however on my monitor I can't see the eye.

Regards

JohnS

An all to unfamiliar sight in recent years..........

Lovely,simple image chris,and you just don't see as many around now from when I was a young 'YOC' member, the only time you really see them now is when there's about 4-5 scrapping and falling through tree's!!.Beautiful BG and colours.Nice work Chris

Very few here in Ashton-in-Makwerfield now. Your image says it all.

Hi Chris,

Nice capture, liking the pose and a very nice bg. Agree with the nit about the eye.

Lewis.

Loads in my back garden! Really love the complimentary colours with the background and sparrow, would have been nice to have a catchlight in the eye

Scott

The composition works well, as does the neutral coloured surroundings.