Dobbies’ Andover store has teamed up with RSPB to help save the house sparrow population.

The UK’s leading garden centre, Dobbies, has teamed up with the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, the RSPB, to educate its customers in Andover on the declining house sparrow population this May and encourage them to do their part to welcome this bird species into their gardens.

During the month of May, RSPB volunteers will be raising awareness and collecting donations across a number of stores while offering the opportunity to sign up to become an RSPB member.

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Although house sparrows topped the Big Garden Birdwatch for the 19th year in a row in 2022, their population has declined so drastically that they are now on the UK Red List for birds, and any further declines would be disastrous.

As part of this campaign, the Andover store will host a Little Seedlings Club workshop on Sunday, May 7. This entertaining and informative workshop is suitable for kids aged between four and 10 years old. Children will learn about the official Red List and the house sparrow, as well as some helpful tips on how to encourage more house sparrows into their gardens.

Dobbies’ community and CSR communications executive, Chloe Bell, said: “Our Little Seedlings Club attendees are the next generation of gardening enthusiasts and this awareness workshop with RSPB at our Andover store is extremely important when it comes to helping rescue the house sparrow.

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“I have fond memories as a child listening to the house sparrows as I watched them fly about the garden and we want the younger generation to experience this too. You can help these birds by planting trees, shrubs and flowers in the garden, a place for the house sparrow to take shelter, forage for insects to feed their chicks, and ultimately help increase the population."

Adrian Thomas, the RSPB’s wildlife gardening expert, added: “We are really looking forward to working with Dobbies to spread the word about these wonderful garden birds, and how people can help them. They’re great fun for kids to learn about too – house sparrows are delightfully sociable and chattery and they really benefit when we give them the food, water, and home they need. It shows how little actions can really make a difference to our local wildlife."

For more information on how children can participate visit, dobbies.com/little-seedling.