Sparrows in the roof - is this a problem?

BlondeHeadOn

I think we have sparrows nesting in our roof, as I have heard the patter of tiny feet (so to speak) and lots of tweeting, and seen sparrows seem to disappear into the tiles when I have looked at the roof from outside.

My first thought was "ahhhh, little birdies in the roof, how sweet" :A - but then I started to wonder whether I should be worried about this from a maintenance point of view. OH has had a look in the loft and can't see any obvious problems, but is there anything we should be aware of?

I'm quite happy to live with the patters and tweets, so long as they are not doing any damage.....

Anyone know anything about feathery lodgers?

economiser

We have had sparrows, starlings, blackbirds and others nesting in our roof many for years without any problems. When I had to replace some of the soffit boards a few years ago there was quite a lot of nesting material to remove though. Live and let live. HOUSE sparrows have to live somewhere.

safesound

Apart from the textile pests that will inhabit your loft via their nests (biggest breeding site for all the household nasties that like to eat natural fabrics such as wool, fur, feathers, anything that contains keritin (sp?)) Theres also the problems associated with dead and rotting chicks (a large number of babies dont make it to adulthood) and rotten eggs that dont even make it as far as becoming chicks. Sparrow feaces also contains salmonella... I'm not saying get rid of them (as they do need somehwere to live) but I would suggest you get someone to clean out the old nests/poop/deadbodies etc at least once a year.
I've just been reminded by DH that House Sparrows are now a protected species in England (but not Wales for some odd reason) so make sure if you are in England that you get the cleaning done when they arent nesting just to minimise the disruption.

Woo-hoo the joys of being married to a pest controller!

Noozan

We used to get sparrows and starlings nesting under our roof. When we have the roof re-tiled, I was shocked at the number of nests and old nesting material that was removed. There were also unhatched eggs and lots of bird poo! After the new roof went on, DH went up and sealed all the gaps with expanding foam. Now we only get blackbirds nesting in the trees and blue tits and coal tits in the desiganted nesting boxes.

never_enough

I believe it's now illegal to disturb birds whilst they're nesting, so you may need to wait until the autumn before you do anything anyway.

A friend found pigeons in the loft of her new (to her) house. That was not nice, much poop, noise & demented squawkings. She had to get rentokil in eventually. However that was in the main loft & they were very visible, flying around. Sounds as if yours may not actually be in the loft itself, maybe just under the eaves or something?

My only concern would be to check if your water tank is covered, although how much of an issue it is I don't really know. I'm just thinking of a story I heard about a bees nest in a loft, lots of floating bees... :eek:

Btw if you do seal up the entrances then you can always site nesting boxes in some shaded part of your garden if you feel guilty for making them homeless.

wobbley

Be thankful it's only sparrows. A friend of mine thought he had a nest and had it investigated. Turned out it was bats. The situation got ridiculous as it turned out that in law the bats had more rights than him and his family.

Debt_Free_Chick

We've got bats - three brown long-eared bats

They don't cause a problem at all - in fact you wouldn't know they were there, except for the droppings in the loft. But they're tiny and dry - easy to sweep or hoover up.

Yes, they are protected, but houseowners don't need to do anything - just don't deliberately disturb them or try to evict them!

BlondeHeadOn

I think we might have bats too, as we always see them flying around in the evenings - quite like them though, so if they are not causing a problem then I'm happy to leave well alone.

Thanks for all the replies folks - I think I will just live and let live for the moment. I do have nest boxes outside for blue tits, sparrows and robins, but the sparrows seem to prefer the roof (the other nest boxes are occupied).

And the little baby birds are soooooo cute ......

I can't thank you all individually as my 'Thanks' buttons seem to have disappeared again (Now you see them, now you don't...) so a general thanks to all.

:T :T :T

tykervic

we have bats too - 2 or 3 residents, and over 200 that visit once a year on their "rounds"!

shona_2

Both bats and nesting birds are protected by law in the UK.

But it's not true that bats have more rights than people as someone above said - that's a little unfair!
For example if a bat comes into the living space of your house, it can be moved. You will also most likely be allowed to take action to keep them out at a time of year when the bats aren't in your home.

Shona

Wig

You can buy (or make yourself) sparrow nesting boxes which you fix to the wall under the eaves of the roof.