Sparrow populations are declining nationally so we are making a small contribution towards a healthier population. They have nested under our front bay window and are feeding their fledglings on the aphids they have picked from our raspberries and blackcurrants. As I have previously noted, we do not use pesticides. Male and female birds take it in turns to fly up to the nest to a chorus of chirpings. We are waiting for them to quit the nest before we finish cutting the front privet hedge and last week dissuaded our neighbour's gardener from taking power tools to the top. (We love these charming creatures, but have still taken the precaution of netting our garden peas, given their taste for sweet pea shoots.)
We share our home with bumblebees who have nested in various crannies, and even last year with wasps. June's RHS magazine features the wide variety of solitary wasps who act as an environmentally friendly pest control. Ours were the social wasps (Vespula vulgaris). I hope that wherever they have nested this year they also will be consuming aphids. There were no ill effects - the wasps had to be dissuaded from entering the house towards the end of their life span but we were never stung.
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