House Sparrows.

House Sparrows and a Blackbird. Photo. John Elliott. Click to enlarge.

 For a species that is red listed, ie. threatened with extinction, house sparrows are doing rather well in my wildlife garden. Throughout the summer months I only have one or two in my weekly report to the BTO Garden Birds survey, but come the winter the flock incresses dramatically , I think there are 22 in the picture. Some of the birds are showing the dark head and black bib that distinguishes the male birds, but others have the indeterminate winter plumage that makes the sexes hard to distinguish. 

The blackbird's yellow bill and eye-ring idicate a mature bird, not one of this year's brood. Its overall brown mate will be somewhere in the garden