Species Action Plan

The tree sparrow is patchily distributed on farmland across Britain and Ireland, being scarcer in the uplands, and the far north and west. The main populations are now found across the Midlands, southern and eastern England, with the species almost absent from the south-west, Wales and the north-west. The tree sparrow appears to undergo irregular fluctuations in numbers. In Britain, there was a high population from the 1880s to the 1930s, but numbers then decreased to a low point around 1950, around which time it became extinct in Ireland. Numbers then increased again from 1960 to 1978, possibly due to an influx of birds from mainland Europe. However, based on the Common Bird Census, there was a decline of 85% in numbers in Britain between the two breeding atlas periods (1968-72 and 1988-91), the largest decline of any common species during this period. The tree sparrow also decreased in range by 20% over the same period, with particular losses in Wales and Scotland. The species is still common and widespread across mainland Europe with population trends differing between countries. Populations are mainly sedentary but large-scale autumnal movements occasionally occur, particularly from the more northerly parts of the range.

The tree sparrow is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 and EC Birds Directive.

Little is known about the factors affecting numbers of tree sparrows, but their recent decline has occurred at the same time as decreases in the numbers and/or ranges of other farmland birds which share its diet of grass, wildflower and cereal seeds, and also feed their young on insects. It is therefore likely that its decline is due to changing agricultural practices, particularly the increased use of herbicides; the shift from spring-sown to autumn-sown crops and the consequent loss of winter stubble fields; the more intensive management of grassland; and the general reduction of habitat diversity on farmland due to the loss of mixed farming and increased specialisation.

As a colonial or semi-colonial hole-nesting species, the availability of nest sites may be a limiting factor, and the fact that nest boxes are readily occupied supports this. The loss of elm trees from lowland Britain during the late 1970s and 1980s would doubtless have removed large numbers of potential nest sites from favoured areas.

Little direct conservation work for the tree sparrow has been carried out, although nest-box schemes in a number of areas have been implemented.

Rotational set-aside will have benefited the species, although this has been significantly reduced in area in recent years. New prescriptions encouraging the growth of spring-sown cereals and retention of winter stubbles in the South Downs ESA, and the pilot Arable Stewardship Scheme, should also benefit the tree sparrow.

The following LBAPs are working on Passer montanus:

Originally published in: UK Biodiversity Group Tranche 2 Action Plans - Volume I: Vertebrates and vascular plants (June 1998, Tranche 2, Vol I, p93)

ARKive Visit the ARKive website to view images and further information relating to this species