Feeder scheme finds 'heartening' rare bird numbers

Cameras installed on bird feeders on farmland have recorded "heartening" evidence of the most endangered bird species on the Isle of Man.

Manx Wildlife Trust set up 21 feeding stations, with a seed mix which includes white millet, to provide food for tree sparrows and "give them security through the breeding season".

The seed hoppers project, along with improved recording of the birds using them, found the island was home to more tree sparrows "than previously thought", the trust said.

Farmland bird officer Rob Fisher said he was "thrilled" to have evidence of the species for the first time in a decade.

He said the devices had been helping to "monitor their movements with as little human disturbance as possible”.

The scheme was launched following the local extinction of the yellowhammer, another Manx farmland bird.

A trust spokesman said the charity believed "this little bird is the most threatened of all our island's birds" and "urgent conservation action" was needed to save it.

The recordings from the project, alongside the results from a ringing session in an unharvested sunflower field, had "blown us away", Mr Fisher said.

He confirmed a total of 69 birds were ringed, which included 14 tree sparrows - the first to be ringed on the Isle of Man since the early 2010s.

A trust spokesman said: "Now we can see where to focus further conservation efforts to put the species into recovery locally."

"This is an excellent start, but there is still much to do.”

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