YORK is one of the country's most "sparrow-friendly" cities, it was revealed.

The city's status in the sparrow world was set out in a survey by the RSPB, which shows the places with the highest and lowest number of sightings of the birds in the UK.

York came third in a league table of 27 cities, with an average of 8.17 sparrows spotted in the vicinity of each home which took part.

Only Lincoln and Cardiff recorded more sparrows (9.41 and 8.45). Despite all those references to "cockney sparrers", London came bottom with an average of only 4.53 sparrows per home.

More than a quarter of a million people took part in the Society's house sparrow survey carried out in early May, recording 554,000 of the birds.

Overall, the average number of house sparrows in all the gardens recorded was just under seven. The survey results will be used by the RSPB to help find out why house sparrow numbers are falling - they have more than halved in the last 25 years.

The survey also showed that handing out a handful of bird seed each day could hold the key to the survival of the birds. They are almost twice as likely to be present in gardens where food is provided for them throughout the year.

On average, more than seven house sparrows were recorded in gardens where food was put out all year, but fewer than four were seen in gardens where birds were not fed.

David Hirst, from the RSPB, said: "The survey confirms that the north of England is still an important area for house sparrows, and they seem to be doing especially well in York."

But he added the challenge was to keep it that way, using the information revealed by the survey.

Updated: 10:47 Thursday, July 10, 2003