Sparrows Need Hedges

The Holly and the Hawthorn - a Tragic Tale of Stupidity

In the communal garden at the back of my flat grew a holly and a hawthorn tree. Some ends of the holly's upper branches were about four feet from my first floor kitchen window. I used to put tiny bits of cubed cheese and split peanuts on the window ledge and be rewarded by various small birds making their way from the nearby park, to the large sycamore tree, then onto the holly and finally to my window ledge; take a piece of food and nip back into the holly tree to consume it.

It was very satisfying watching the birds feeding freely at close range, as I've never been a fan of using mesh bird feeders. If birds can take food and eat it elsewhere, more can be fed in a given time than having them squabble or waiting for others to finish feeding by trying to eat nuts frustratingly through a plastic net or metal lattice.

The birds loved sitting in this tree before coming to the window ledge

The birds that came to the window ledge were blue, great and coal tits, nuthatch, robin, blackcap, chaffinch, starling, wood pigeon, magpie and jay. In the holly tree itself I regularly saw goldcrest, wren, dunnock, long tailed tits and treecreeper. The hawthorn nearby also attracted these birds and bore berries taken by redwings and blackbirds in the winter.

The hawthorn's branches grew into the holly and squirrels used both trees extensively as they chased around, and even jumped from the holly tree to the kitchen window ledge and back; a heart-stopping feat!

Although the holly tree was a male, its flower buds attracted holly blue butterflies, bees, hover flies, and various other insects, with swarms of small midge like creatures flying in a loose ball around the tree at almost anytime of year.

During September 2004, imagine my horror when I returned home from work one day to find both trees completely gone, the stumps level with the ground! There was no indication from our landlord this was going to happen. I was stunned and saddened at this stupid act of mindless destruction. Although the small estate I live in is a conservation area, apparently the two trees concerned were not covered by the order.

I still don't know why the trees were removed. Communications between the wealthy landlord is non-existent and the landlord's agent tense. I can only assume they thought the maisonette downstairs would benefit from more light, though the new tenants there were as shocked as I was.

This was habitat destruction at its worse. Not only do the birds no longer come to my window ledge, except the wood pigeon, the habitat loss also affected my flat. The holly tree provided privacy from the park and shade from the glaring sun. The garden now looks bare. No more will birds be able to turn over the dead leaves underneath both trees to search for bugs or shelter from the wind, and the blackbird can no longer nest in the holly tree.

I cannot watch the treecreeper, goldcrest and long tailed tits at such close quarters anymore. The redwings cannot eat the hawthorn berries, and the privacy from the park has gone. No more will I watch the robins feed each other in the spring, or coal tits nibble cheese sheltering in the bitter cold of winter. When the trees went the local habitat changed dramatically. The area is not the same. It is bare and hideous

If I could afford to, I would move, such was the shock I felt about this mindless destruction. While this sad episode has not directly affected house sparrows, I couldn't help feeling how much worse it must be for small birds to lose another chunk of their habitat.

The local birds here have been affected, not wanting to come to the window ledge like before. For a sparrow colony, to have their habitat of hedges and gardens destroyed in a few days, it must be devastating. We cannot ignore or underestimate the extreme stress birds experience when their cover and primary food source suddenly vanishes.