What they like

Scruffy corners with character. The tree sparrow likes small-scale farmland, farmyards, gardens and village edges with hedges, bushes and old sheds. Plant hawthorn, blackthorn, elder and hornbeam. Let ivy climb a wall. Hang nest boxes under eaves or in an old fruit tree – preferably a few in a colony, because it’s nicer together. Not a neatly mown lawn, but patches of grass left to grow tall. And above all: no pesticides. Insects aren’t a pest, they’re tree sparrow fuel.

Ecological importance

In the breeding season a voracious insect hunter: caterpillars, beetles, flies – anything for a well-filled beak headed for the nest. Outside the season it switches to seeds of cereals and herbs. It itself is on the menu of the sparrowhawk and the house cat. If the tree sparrow is present, the picture is right: enough insects, enough shrubs, enough peace and quiet.

When in the Netherlands

All year round. Resident, site-faithful and loyal to its spot.

Status

Listed on the Red List as sensitive. The species has declined sharply in recent decades due to agricultural intensification, the loss of farmyards full of sheds and shrubs, and a shortage of insects. More hedges, more rough corners, more life – and the tree sparrow will follow.