Bid Made to Boost the Local Sparrow Population
Air Quality Brentford providing free nesting boxes
Sparrow boxes in Brentford. Picture: Air Quality Brentford
April 24, 2024
Local environmental action group, Air Quality Brentford, is offering free nesting boxes for sparrows for any resident who wants to install one on their property.
Sparrows need greenery, for protection and for insects, so the idea is to also green-up front gardens to encourage them to nest. This improves air quality locally and provides green corridors on our streets.
House sparrows are on the red list of endangered birds and need more local nesting sites. In an effort to help, Air Quality Brentford has used some of its Co-op Community Funding to buy bird boxes for the front of houses in Brentford.
Five Woodstone sparrow boxes and 14 of the plywood sparrow terrace boxes were purchased. You will see them up on the front of houses on Avenue Road, Latewood Road, Brook Road South, Orchard Road, Hamilton Road, York Road, Layton Road, South Ealing Road and Braemar Road. Sparrows nest several times each year, so there is still time for feathery tenants to move in. Air Quality Brentford could potentially buy a second round of boxes, if you are interested in having one on the front of your house and greening your front garden, you can contact the group for more information.
It has also purchased a swift nesting box but haven’t yet found a location for it. If you know of a public facing space, high up and with a free flight path in to the nest, then let Air Quality Brentford know.
The group expressed its thanks to local people who sanded and varnished the plywood boxes and have helped install them too.
More about the group’s initiative with sparrow boxes can be found in the video shown below.
A spokesperson for the group said, “We bought the bird boxes from CJ Birdfoods. They have an amazing livestream of nesting boxes for different types owl and birds of prey in Holland which is quite entertaining. It’s in partnership with Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of their Dutch partner Vogelbescherming. Currently one of the three Tawney Owl chicks has fledged and those remaining in the nest are being well fed in preparation for their own future ventures.”
Air Quality Brentford (AQB) is a voluntary group of local Brentford residents helping to improve air quality and can be found on Facebook, 
@agreenerlondon.
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