birds nests inside soffits

[David Robinson]

Following advice from this thread...

put some extra vents from soffit level straight into the loft space.

While cutting into the soffits, I've found birds nests! It seems the cheeky beggars have popped under the bottom tiles, pecked the felt away, and made a nice home for themselves on top of the inside of the soffits.

I've stood outside the house and watched - and they're still at it!

I've found three separate nests, but there may be more - the one I found when cutting into the soffit wasn't visible from inside the loft.

Should I be worried? It's not that easy (as DIY) to do anything about it. The soffits are over 1m lower than the level of the loft "floor", so difficult/impossible to reach from inside. It's also impossible to reach the felt to fix it.

Any ideas? Professional help? Ignore it? Hook them out?

The bird have not been _into_ the loft itself, and don't be able to get once I put the insulation on the rafters.

Cheers, David.

P.S. I though about pushing some chipboard down the line of the roof from inside the loft to block the holes in the felts - but because the joists and rafters meet at that point of the loft, the chipboard would have to be "one joist width" narrower than the gap between the rafters to get it past - so when it was pushed all the way down it would leave enough space at the side for the birds to get back in.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Given they had not been causing any problems, and your roof construction is such that they're spaced well away from the body of the house, I would ignore them.

Note that if you do decide to remove them, I think you can only do it at certain times of year outside of the breeding season (which would be now).

[andrew]

Debatable ;-)

AJH

[Kipper at sea]

They cause a few problems, like carrying loads of nesting materials such as straw, and paper, which could also contain insect eggs such as woodworm, and mealy worm. If the soft is of timber construction there could be a fire risk if paint is being burnt off with a blow touch. It takes only a bit of straw to catch alight and with in seconds the whole lot is alight due to the draft under the felt.

You don=92t say which type of roof tile is on the roof. If its a concrete profile type there are special eve comb fillers which are fixed to the top of the fascia board and also over fascia felt supports. Theses eliminate the felt from sagging behind the fascia board and the comb filler stops the birds from entering the sofit. All you do is push the second row of tiles up to access the nails on the bottom row. Take off the bottom row of tiles, cut back the bottom 6=94 or 150mm of felt, put the felt support under the felt and pin it to the rafter. Then put the comb filler strip on top of the felt support, with the lip on the inside and fix with a non corrosive nail through the pre made holes, into the fascia top edge. Relay the tiles making sure that the comb points out wards. Then pull down the second row.

[Ronald Raygun]

Are you saying that now is one of the certain times of year you can do it, or are you saying that the breeding season is now?

[Tim Lamb]

We are allowed to trim hedges up until Feb. 15th.

regards

[andrew]

Yes and most ecological requirements on felling sites allow felling till March 15 and then again from August. Generally they don't stop extraction and other activities which are actually more damaging to nesting birds ( not many threatened species nest in tress as opposed to using holes, undergrowth, brash, scrapes etc.

I have even been on a heathland SSSI mulching in August, sanctioned by Natural England, and seen nightjar on the ground. These machines do serious damage.

The thing about the 81 act and it's reinforcement Crow 2000 is that it protects any nesting bird from disturbance. Pigeons breed year round and blackbirds often have young in February.

AJH

[Andy Champ]

The way to prevent woodworm in your loft is to keep the wood too dry for them, not to keep the B***ers out.

Pigeons, BTW, and a couple of other species are fair game under the general licence provisions of the wildlife acts.

[David Robinson]

I couldn't reach all of them, but removed the ones I could. I tried to push one of the "out of reach" ones along with a broom handle, but without much luck.

That one had some "fresh" grass on top - when the bird (blue tit I think) returned, it flew right up into the loft (for the first time AFAICT) presumably looking for the nest.

Then it flew down out of the loft hatch and into the bedroom. It then tried to fly through a closed window. I was drilling with ear defender on, but when I stopped for lunch I heard flap flap bang flap flap bang and wondered what on earth was happening. Of course I let the poor thing out, but it had to be guided to the open window - it preferred to take its chances with the far larger area of unopenable window.

Interesting thought patten these birds "I couldn't get through this gap last time, and it hurt, so next time I need to fly at it even harder and faster to make sure I get through. Bang. Ow! OK, so I couldn't get through this gap last time, and it hurt, so..."

Once the new insulation is in place, they won't be able to get into the loft, and I think that'll do for now. Neighbours have them in their soffits apparently, and their roof hasn't fallen down (yet).

Cheers, David.

[David Robinson]

Thank you - that's a valuable piece of advice.

Yes, neighbour (roofer) suggested this possibility (though your instructions make it sound DIY-able - but I'm not DIY-ing at such heights!), but he hadn't bothered himself.

Cheers, David.

[David Robinson]

Do you think it's worth treating the roof timbers before putting the celotex up? Too late for the joists (I've boarded), but the rafters are all accessible.

Cheers, David.

[Tim Lamb]

There are some offers on Cuprinol 5 star and Wykamol as present. Stockists might be clearing stock in advance of a ban on volatiles.

Not the easiest stuff to apply to rafters, though.

regards