Pigeons nesting under Leased Solar Panels from A Shade Greener

Alnat1

Over summer you might spot juvenile wood pigeons, they are a bit plainer and smaller than their parents and don't have a white collar. In fact, more like feral pigeons 

Rheumatoid

_Sam_ said:

Maybe it has something to do with a type of roof, tiles or location? It's been nearly 10 years now for our roof and no pigeons, even though they wander about the garden every day 🤷‍♀️

Same here. We get literally hundreds of them in a field next door and they have never shown the slightest interest in getting under our panels. They all look too big anyway.

Alnat1

Tried to find a pic with both types of pigeon so folks can see what type they have. Failed 

The_Green_Hornet

Alnat1 said:

Tried to find a pic with both types of pigeon so folks can see what type they have. Failed 

                        Feral Pigeon                                                           Wood Pigeon

Alnat1

I meant 1 pic with 2 birds to compare size, sorry didn't explain it well

The_Green_Hornet

Alnat1 said:

I meant 1 pic with 2 birds to compare size, sorry didn't explain it well

https://pigeonspark.com/wood-pigeons-vs-feral-pigeon/

Contains a video with the birds eating seeds together.

70sbudgie

I read somewhere (can't remember when or where) that having trees nearby reduces the likelihood of pigeons getting under solar panels. 

But the conversation about wood pigeons vs feral pigeons is making me wonder if trees are not just an indication of which species is local?

Spoonie_Turtle

70sbudgie said:

I read somewhere (can't remember when or where) that having trees nearby reduces the likelihood of pigeons getting under solar panels. 

But the conversation about wood pigeons vs feral pigeons is making me wonder if trees are not just an indication of which species is local?

In the town where I used to work there were plenty of trees but the pigeons were definitely the feral ones, not wood pigeons.  That said, the most pigeons would be seen in the town centre where there were fewer trees - but there you also have the factor of more people = more opportunity of food for the pigeons (whether people feed them, or food that was dropped, thrown away, etc.).

Trees providing nesting sites preferable to solar panels would certainly make sense.

matt_drummer

We live near the centre of town but fairly near the coast. There are plenty of trees here.

But they love solar panels, they like the warmth and weather protection they offer, and where we are, I think they are safer away from seagulls?

inspectorperez

matt_drummer said:

We live near the centre of town but fairly near the coast. There are plenty of trees here.

But they love solar panels, they like the warmth and weather protection they offer, and where we are, I think they are safer away from seagulls?

Same here in terms of proximity to coast and trees.

We experienced at first one nest and then two nests under our solar panels which made us realise what an absolute nuisance these birds (wood pigeon variety) were in terms of mess, noise and risk of damage to panel wiring. At the appropriate time after nesting, we removed the nests and installed wire mesh protection which did the job.

The outcome was I think totally predictable in that they became displaced and moved to the next house which had unprotected panels. This particular house became a focal point for the "group" and the owner was eventually forced to install protection similar to ours.

And so this pattern was replicated throughout the estate and I would say now that all the arrays are protected.

Anyway, just thought I would post these remarks as it proved to us beyond doubt that the protection installation is essential right at the outset when presumably the scaffolding is there and the fitting of mesh guards can be done quite simply at the end of the job.