These noisy and sociable birds are found around the world, thanks to their cheerful ability to make the most of humanity's rubbish and wastefulness. But monitoring suggests a severe decline in the UK House Sparrow population, recently estimated as dropping by 71% between 1977 and 2008 with large falls in both rural and urban populations. Their numbers are still dropping in England, Breeding Bird Survey data indicates recent population increases in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
