This edition sees us look at one of the UK's most common birds, the house sparrow.

Although there are millions of them in the country, the sparrow has been in something of a decline recently, for unknown reasons.

It is slightly larger than a great tit, and there is clear sexual differentiation visible in the colouring of the male and female. The house sparrows I have photographed are very regular visitors to the garden, it being not unusual to see up to a dozen in front or back garden at once. In fact, several of them live in the privet hedge in the back garden.

(Click images for a larger version)

Thw first three photographs depict a solitary male house sparrow, with the last a pair of females (with a blue tit in the background).

Sparrows are regularly visitors to feeders, and like most birds prefer sunflower seeds to peanuts.