Skip to main content
House Sparrows

House Sparrows

House sparrows are not fussy, which makes them one of the easier birds to feed and one of the harder ones to attract. They will take a general seed mix, sunflower hearts, fat balls and scraps quite happily. What they will not do is arrive alone. Sparrows are colonial and sociable, and either you have a group nearby or you do not — a garden a few streets from a colony can put out the right food for a year and see none.

If you do have them, they will feed in a noisy crowd from a bird table, a ground tray or a hanging feeder, and a mix is usually better value than a single seed because they are happy with the cereal content that fussier birds pick out and drop. A no-mess blend is worth the difference if they are feeding near a patio or lawn, because a sparrow flock makes a lot of husk.

Sparrows nest in colonies under eaves and in cavities, and dense hedging or climbers near the feeding spot make a real difference to whether they settle — they like to feed with cover a second's flight away.

Related ranges

The same mixes suit chaffinches and greenfinches. Browse wild bird seed and fat balls.

!