h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I spent most of today digging up the couch grass areas in my garden ready for next year's attempt at a grass/wild flower meadow; I'd already zapped it from outer space a few weeks ago with glycophosphate. I wanted to remove the dead root remains..and that which even resists nuking from space . It'll mean I'll dig out any stuff sprouting between now and next March and the winter rains should leach out nutrients from the soil, and I'll rake off any autumn leaves. The secret of creating a traditonal meadow is soil with low nutrients and next year I'll need to repeatedly mow/cut it to mimic grazing.

Anyhow I sat outside for a while admiring my hard work, and was amazed at what I saw of the sparrow behaviour. There's now a flock of around 20 living in the hedge on the left. They kept zooming down to the pond en masse, drinking and bathing; zooming over to the freshly dug soil for hysterical dust baths, interspersed with flocking back to the hedge, every time a plane went over, (they think it's a sparrow hawk )...but then suddenly they descended on my desperate to flower, chilli pepper plants in pots, and attacked the leaves, pecking at the leaves crazily it was like something out of Hitchcock's The Birds or the description of the attacking birds in Suddenly Lst Summer.

Their high spirits were brought abruptly to an end when a real Sparrow Hawk descended Really though, sparrows are the funniest things. All that squabbling, shreiking, flying and pecking. But I do love them

Hiya snoochums,

What kind of Sparrows are they? They have all taken a bit of a battering over the past few decades but are slowly coming back. But not as much as Buzzards are which seem to be everywhere these days which is great to see.

My place is surrounded by Starlings which is OK during the roosting season but a pain when I hear them hopping around on my roof and sitting on my arial.

Hiya snoggo

They are house sparrows..and they are multiplying alarmingly. I think me feeding them in the winter is interfering with natural selection There's probably a fair few runts in the hedge now..trouble is I'm an old softy about them.

I had starlings around in the winter, feeding on fat balls I put out in the coldest weather, but not over the summer. I think they are declining as well..

And my whole garden is gradually being given over to help wildlife. It's certainly not just some do-gooding charitable thing on my part. I can sit for hours and watch all manner of creatures interacting with one another. That's why I'm trying to create an area of traditional grass meadow in my garden; it'll be fantastic as an ecosystem...and yes very Romantic as well

Do you have a garden?

I do have a garden though it falls back to wildlife due to me doing bugger all to it apart from cutting the grass every now and again. It has some birds in it but not huge amounts. I did see a bullfinch early this year and I found out we have bats in the area a few months ago. They were flitting about in the garden which was lovely to see.

I don't think there's a problem with feeding birds so 'runts' get through. The change in the urban landscape means feeding birds is needed.