Help-Can birds fly in through Fascia (see photos)

krissy08

Hi all

Thanks as always in advance.
We had Fascia done 2 years ago and a bit of it has broken (see photos). We noticed this because we started hearing flutterings that sounded like bird flapping feathers in the house. We got a handy man in and he suggested one may have found their way into our loft space.
On walking round the house we noticed the break in the Fascia and a lot of bird poo on the conservatory roof and the ground around that area- keeping massdiover watch I noticed a bird fly in to the gap and out again.
I reported this to the fitting company in my letter along with the photos.

The company have accepted they will come and fix the broken bit but made no move regarding the birds. Can I hold them to this? Can I make them check/ clean it out?
I gave the pest department in the council a call, but they say birds aren't pone of the pests they remove or check

Robin9

If they are nesting let them do so  - then repair the fascia. 

casper_gutman

The hole's certainly large enough for just about any British birds to get in and out. The hole should be repaired, after ensuring no birds are in the roof space, and any mess in the roof space cleaned up.

I'm not sure you can expect much from the company who fitted the fascia beyond a repair. What damages have you actually suffered for which you would want to be compensated? 

Also, do you know what species the birds are? Some are protected and disturbing a nest might be some kind of offence for all I know. There must be exceptions for nests in positions where they are causing danger or significant nuisance, but I'm not familiar with the rules and it doesn't sound like they're causing major issues here if you're not even sure they're there.

Regardless of the species, many people would wish to wait until after nesting season: would you be happy if a nest of eggs in the roof space was abandoned? 

turnitround

I second Robin9's post. Please do not have it blocked now.

Section62

krissy08 said:

Hi all

Thanks as always in advance.
We had Fascia done 2 years ago and a bit of it has broken (see photos). We noticed this because we started hearing flutterings that sounded like bird flapping feathers in the house. We got a handy man in and he suggested one may have found their way into our loft space.
On walking round the house we noticed the break in the Fascia and a lot of bird poo on the conservatory roof and the ground around that area- keeping massdiover watch I noticed a bird fly in to the gap and out again.
I reported this to the fitting company in my letter along with the photos.

The company have accepted they will come and fix the broken bit but made no move regarding the birds. Can I hold them to this? Can I make them check/ clean it out?
I gave the pest department in the council a call, but they say birds aren't pone of the pests they remove or check

Looks more likely wind damage to me.  Once there's a hole birds may use it to get to somewhere safe/warm to nest.

The hole is in a part of the building called 'soffit', not 'fascia'.

mr_stripey

Birds can get in a much smaller hole than that. 

They are probably nesting and will be rearing the babies and will be fledged and gone in a month or so. Then get the company back to fix the soffit.

krissy08

No rush to do anything right now.I;ll take the advice on here - thank you everyone.

Belenus

krissy08 said:

No rush to do anything right now.I;ll take the advice on here - thank you everyone.

The right decision. Well done.

Many of our native garden birds are threatened and numbers are in severe decline, partly due to human activity such as building houses and concreting huge areas of land.

A bit of poo on your conservatory roof and surrounding area for a few months to allow the birds to raise and fledge their brood is a small price to pay for the privilege of having birds nest in your roof.

For a number of years we had a pair of House Martins nesting high up on a side wall of our house. They returned from Africa each year for several years. We are fairly sure it was the same pair each year as House Martins do return to the same nest site when possible. They made a bit of a mess of the wall and ground below but we didn't care. An occasional hosing sorted that out. It was wonderful to watch the adults acrobatic manoeuvres as they brought food to the chicks. They could fly in and out of the nest in about 1 second. As the chicks grew in size we would see four or five little black and white heads peeping out of the nest high above our heads.

The nest has now crumbled and gone and we no longer have House Martins on our wall.

We miss them.

FreeBear

casper_gutman said: Also, do you know what species the birds are? Some are protected and disturbing a nest might be some kind of offence for all I know.

All wild birds are protected by law. Disturbing their nests could land you in court - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wild-birds-protection-surveys-and-licences

TripleH

We had a pigeon on our balcony when we rented in festal London.

We weren't allowed to do anything to the nest until it was empty. Our cat was not happy!

As kids a family of swallows would nest in our garage every year (started before we moved in we believe). My father refused to fix the broken window for that very reason. Then after no visitors for 3 years, my parents converted the garage into a cottage (2 floor stable house). It was quite sad when they didn't return.

JohnB47

A neighbour had a bathroom waste pipe removed on their first floor bathroom a few years ago and the exit hole was never filled in. Since then sparrows have been nesting in there. The parents and offsprings fly down to our garden to feed and play. It's wonderful to see, particularly because it seems that it's a family that's coming back year after year. Wonderful.