Nature on Your Doorstep Community

A place to learn, share and inspire others to create a haven for you and for wildlife.

Sign In or Register to join the conversation

Nesting House Sparrows

I have house sparrows that nest in my roof every year - I think there are two or three nests, possibly under the eaves or behind the guttering somewhere - I haven't been up a ladder to have a good look yet! I need to replace all my windows, and also facias and guttering, so I would like some advice on how to do this with the least disruption to the sparrows, and to make sure they come back to nest next year. I know that this is the right time of year to do the work, but not sure how to proceed. Is it better to put up nest boxes to replace the nest sites, and if I did that, would the sparrows happily use them? Or should I be trying to make new holes in the facias or leave access under the eaves to the existing nests? I do want my roof to be watertight though! Any advice gratefully received: the window companies/builders have been giving me very strange looks when I say I want to keep the sparrow nests!
  • Hi Claire

    Apologies, i'm not sure how we managed to miss your post!

    Ideally try to retain the existing nesting sites by simply noting where the entrance holes currently are or where the nests are and cutting 32mm holes in the new fascias to link back to the old sites. This is the cheapest and most effective approach. If this isn't possible for whatever reason then replacing the lost nests with the same amount of boxes or more located under the eaves is an option.

    Warden Intern at Otmoor.