A developer is about to demolish some garages on land next to my property. The garages are covered heavily with ivy and there are blackbirds (at least) nesting in there ...
I'm in London, and everything seems late this year, so are the birds hatching later? When will the fledglings be ready to leave the nest? Is there any point in asking him to hold off until, say, end of July?
Is there a way I can prevent demolition (make him postpone it) for the safety of the birds?
I do actually want him to build (he's paying me compensation for loss of light) and know he has to start in the summer, but don't want to kill or distress birds.
Thanks
Whilst birds are actively nesting the work would not be allowed to go on. All birds are afforded protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 so actions that result in the damage or destruction of active nests are potentially illegal.
However, most hedge nesting species will be winding down their breeding activity towards the late summer period so the end of August would be a better time to do such work. Before starting please make sure that the area is carefully checked just in case some birds are nesting late.
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Thank you ... but I don't know how I'd actually stop him in practical terms?
Not that there's any activity at the moment , but he's not been reasonable with us so far so "asking nicely" might not work, whereas any hint of legal action probably would.