I was in Glastonbury, Somerset, and the house sparrows have started calling at nest sites there, They haven’t started in Ipswich. So I tried the audio recorder/GPS track surveying method. Each of the flags is where there was a male calling, or a male was sighted, along the lines of the BTO survey protcol [ref]Protocol for censusing urban sparrows, DeLaet, Peach and Summers-Smith, British Birds, 104, May 2011, p255 ff[/ref]
I covered a decent area, but not as thoroughly as I thought I had done. The sparrows seem in good heart, however, a more continuous coverage than I feel they are in Ipswich, where the colonies strike me as more fragmented. We will see.
My general impression was that sparrows are doing better in Glastonbury than many parts of Ipswich. The route I took left residential areas for the high Street, I know there are sparrows in Northload street so the two clusters might join.