Nottinghamshire's Starlings & Sparrows

The Starling is a declining, but still common bird in Nottinghamshire. It is ubiquitous in its habitat – woods, parkland, suburbs, farmyards, are all suitable.

In the early 19th century the population of Starlings would have be pretty low in Nottinghamshire (Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland {1986, Lack}), but fifty years on, Sterland in the Descriptive List of the Birds of Nottinghamshire {1879} was able to write "a very common bird, breeding in thousands in the old oaks in Sherwood Forest".

The Starling probably reached its maximum population in Nottinghamshire in the 1960s when roosts of several hundreds of thousands were seen in Mansfield and Bingham. But a large roost in the present day would only be in the tens of thousands.The decline could be caused by the reduction in pasture which gives the birds access to earthworms, leatherjackets and other soil insects and grubs.

The House Sparrow is a fairly common resident in Nottinghamshire, but has declined since 1970. It is still found in suburban gardens, parks, villages and farmyards. Sterland did not consider it worth spending any space on discusing this bird in the Descriptive List of the Birds of Nottinghamshire {1879} because it was so common! It was described as an "Abundant resident" in The Birds of Nottinghamshire {1975, Dobbs}.

A study of House Sparrows in Leicester in 2002-2003 by Kate Vincent, showed that a key feature of the decline in the suburbs was starvation of the chicks soon after birth because of the lack of insects. Insects being important for the growth of the young.

A fairly common resident of Nottinghamshire which has declined in the last thirty years. It is found in woodland in the breeding season (it needs holes for the nest) and the fields and hedgerows for the rest of the year.

Sterland in the Descriptive List of the Birds of Nottinghamshire {1879} considered it a common bird within its habitat. There was an expansion period from the 1950s until the mid 1970s (The Atlas of breeding birds in Britain and Ireland –1976 {Sharrock}). Dobbs in the The Birds of Nottinghamshire {1975} called it a "common resident". In the late 1970s and up to the 1990s the population crashed. Since 1995 a small increase has occurred in the East Midlands.