• WHAT has happened to the Kentish Town colony of house sparrows that had begun to flourish behind Inkerman Road and Raglan Street?

Rare though sparrows have become in London, at least eight could be spotted chattering in the gardens here until a month ago. Now all that I can observe is just one male and a female.

The house sparrows’ disappearance follows the recent spraying of herbicides over cracks between paving stones and bases of walls in the neighbourhood. The grass had begun to seed and sparrows eat seeds.

Can we not find a way of maintaining our streets and gardens in a way that allows the birds to survive here too?

ANNE BOSTON
NW5