Hi,
A few months ago, I was very pleased to discover a pair of house sparrows nesting beneath the very edge of my roof tiles. Sadly, upon flying the nest, only one of the fledglings made it and survived. To my surprised delight and barely weeks after the last fledgling had flown, it would appear that another breeding pair of house sparrows have started to rebuild the nest.
The only problem is, the letting agents whom I rent the property through have said that they intend to come out and repair two slipped roof tiles. Whilst these roof tiles are a good 10-12ft away from the nesting site, I am very concerned that the noise and physical presence of the workmen might scare off the house sparrows who are busy trying to build their nest.
Can anyone tell me the likelihood of these birds being disturbed, should the repair work commence. I am hopeful that the 10ft distance might be far enough away to cause minimal disruption. However, having never seen roof tiles being replaced before, I have no idea how long the job will take.
When the agents phoned to say they were going to commence the repair work, they did so jsut after the last fledgling had flown and so I agreed to them coming out. I did point out that if they had tried to do the work earlier, I would have said no becuase of the active nest. During this conversation, I quoted the wildlife and countryside act and that they were legally obliged not to interfere with the birds. My remarks were met with great displeasure and the agents argued and said that only certain birds were protected. I refused to back down and said that they were misinformed because the act protects an active nest of any wild bird.
My current predicament is that the nest is active again and the agents have said they're going to come and do the work over the next few weeks. Because I am a mere tenant and not the homeowner, i feel powerless to stop them.
Does anyone out there have answers to the following?
1) Do you think replacing missing roof tiles might disturb the birds (i.e. how sensitive are they to the movements of the workmen) Repair work is approx 10-12 ft away from nest builing site.
2) Would their work be classified as disturbing an active nest and therefore illegal?
3) Any general advice on what to do would be most welcome.
Thanks for your help.
Sarah
All wild birds in the UK are covered by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 with regards to protection from intentional harm and the damage and destruction of active nests.
If the tiles can be replaced without any interference to the nest then it would be legal to do the work. The best thing to do would be to speak to the contractors when they come and make sure they are aware of this law as well as alerting the letting agents. You can print information off our website if that is any help.
Warden Intern at Otmoor.