Pigeon proofing on PV a requirement?

Spies

The panels on the houses around me don't appear to have any pigeon proofing and it doesn't look like they have any issues with nesting, how many people here have issues with pigeons? It's playing on my mind whether I should request pigeon proofing or save the money. 

gefnew

A link here.
Solar panel bird proofing required — MoneySavingExpert Forum

QrizB

I'm fairly rural. There are wood pigeons and collared doves everywhere but I've not had any signs of them trying to set up home behind my panels.

From the reports I've seen it's feral pigeons in towns and cities that are the main problem. They're a different species and evolved to live on cliffs and mountains (which I guess are more like houses) rather than trees.

Of course I'm not a naturalist and I could be completely wrong about this!

Spies

I've just had a walk around with my dog and out of 19 installations none have bird proofing, I couldn't see any evidence of nesting when looking between the panels and tiles. 

EVandPV

We just had mesh fitted round our pv a few weeks ago.
Haven't had an issue in 10 years until this year when around a dozen pigeons at a time have been sat on our roof. 
I could see them getting underneath the panels too so between that and the sh*t on the panels, we had to do something.

The guy who fitted the mesh said he could see some nesting material under the panels but no actual nests as such.
They seem to have gotten the message now, I only see the odd one or two of them and hopefully they'll move on too.

mickyduck55

I started the other thread..
Wood pigeons and Doves have not been a problem for me either it is the feral "flying rats" that were my issue.  I would find eggs on the patio and eventually my rain water down pipe was blocked with twigs (they don't seem to build nests as such) and I only had a pair at a time nesting so not a massive infestation.
I had 3 sets of panels on two houses done for £700 one 17 panels and two at 10 panels.  I believe prices have gone up since I had mine done about 20 months ago.... I would get it done while they are on the roof with your scaffolding ... or get a kit and do it yourself while their scaffolding is up? 

Verdigris

Is pigeon nesting a problem with "in-roof" installations, or are the panel clearances too small for the birds to get under?

Laycity

I had it fitted to mine at installation as I’ve heard too many stories of people having to retro fit it at a far greater expense. Loads of wood pigeons and squirrels near me and I regularly see pigeons going under some solar panels on my regular dog walk.

EVandPV

mickyduck55 said:

I would get it done while they are on the roof with your scaffolding ... or get a kit and do it yourself while their scaffolding is up? 

That's a good shout, the kit can be bought for around £150 so much cheaper to do it yourself during a new installation while the scaffolding is up.
Looks a fairly easy job, just a case of cutting the mesh into sections and clipping it in place with the plastic pins.

Ectophile

I never had a problem with wood pigeons and solar panels.  It was only when a flock of feral pigeons moved into the area that I had problems with them nesting.  I ended up paying a pest control person to put spikes around the edges of the panels.

The pigeons are a real pest once they start nesting.  The gutters rapidly filled up with twigs, moss and pigeon poo.

Merlin139

Never had a problem with Wood Pigeons on my roof and we have maybe half a dozen flying around at a time. I think it because we have a line of trees about 15 meters behind the house so plenty of places for them to nest.

We do have a problem with Squirrels!

Have removed 6 Dreys in the past 3 years. 5 of them had Kits at various stages of development. 

Now between April and September we look once a week for signs of new dreys. Have managed to deal with a few offenders on my land with my .22

We also get problems with twigs and various detritus blocking the down pipes.