IF ever there was a bird synonymous with Christmas, it’s the robin.

The bird with the vivid red breast adorns millions of Christmas cards every year and is the one species that most non-birdwatchers can usually name without too much difficulty.

But while the robin is undoubtedly the star of the show, another species deserves a similar amount of respect. Hop forward the humble house sparrow!

With no showy plumage to make it stand out, the sparrow is, nonetheless, a welcome addition to our winter gardens.

Sadly, the alarm bells have been ringing over sparrow numbers in recent years, with some areas of the UK reporting big declines.

However, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has shown that, contrary to this gloomy outlook, sparrows are doing very well in Scotland.

The latest Scottish Biodiversity Indicator, which records the abundance of terrestrial breeding birds, shows that between 1994 and 2017 the breeding house sparrow population in Scotland increased by almost 50 per cent.

Compared with the house sparrow population in England, which has fallen by a fifth over the same period, and the six per cent decline for the UK as a whole, it looks like sparrows are thriving in Scotland.

Other species are also doing well north of the Border.

For example, the bullfinch has seen its population increase by a whopping 163 per cent during the same period.

However, the largest increase for any bird in Scotland is that seen by the chiffchaff, a summer visiting warbler to woodland around West Dunbartonshire.

Its breeding population has grown ten-fold, up by 1,007 per cent, and even the tiny goldcrest is doing well, experiencing a 79 per cent increase.

Ben Darvill, from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Scotland, said: “It is great to see some of our birds doing so well in Scotland, but it is thanks to the hundreds of volunteers that give up their time to take part in BTO surveys that we have such a clear picture of how our birds are doing.

“Scotland is a special place for birds and we must continue to keep an eye on them and keep reporting on their ups and downs.”

Ben added: “There are likely to be considerable future changes in both land use and climate in Scotland.

“Long-term monitoring helps us understand the impact of historical changes on our wildlife and to predict the impact of future changes.”