Tree Sparrows in mid-Deeside

 

I've recently been trying to gather information relating to the (apparently) recent colonisation of mid-Deeside by Tree Sparrows.  By mid-Deeside I mean between Banchory and Ballater, including areas around Tarland, Lumphanan, Tornaveen and Torphins as well as Feughside, Glendye and Ballogie. There were a small number of records from the Aboyne area during the 1981-84 NE atlas, but there does appear to have been a real westward spread into the area more recently.

 

So far the records I have date back about 5 years, with the first records from Strachan and Tornaveen, and the most recent relating to birds being seen at Aboyne, Finzean and Ordie (Dinnet) this last winter.  In many of these areas, birds are now breeding or showing signs of breeding.

 

If anyone has any records I would be interested to hear about them.  Location, date of first appearance, date of first breeding and any info on numbers is all I'm really looking for. 

Cheers,

Hugh.

 

Thanks for that.  If you've seen them recently, could you submit an atlas roving record?  There are no winter tree sparrow records for NJ60 yet and it will save me the cost of a cup of coffee (and a slice of their excellent caramel shortbread!).

 

I was at Millers just before Christmas and probably saw a tree sparrow on the feeders, but didn't think too much about it as I thought I had already submitted a roving record from a previous visit.  It wasn't until last week that I checked the species list for NJ60 and found that it was a breeding season roving record that I'd submitted previously.  By then I couldn't remember for sure if I had actually seen a tree sparrow during my pre-Christmas visit or if I'd just imagined it!