Can somebody give me some advice urgently please? My neighbour has a swallow nest in his eaves with young in it at the moment. He is now replacing woodwork round his house with upvc cladding. I have told him he cant remove the nest whilst young still in it but he insists it is going to be knocked down to allow work to continue. I have tried the "against the law" "wood can stay until young out of nest" etc etc to no avail. Workmen are there at the moment and I have said I will report them if they knock down the nest but its too late then for the young. ADVICE ON MY NEXT MOVE PLEASE>
Lots of reading, but scroll down to the index so you can pick out the relevant pages,
www.rspb.org.uk/.../WBATL_tcm9-132998.pdf
hope this helps
sugar has given you a good link.
Presumably workmen are not there now and will not be back tomorrow (Sunday). Are the nestlings about to fledge? Can you delay proceedings until they fledge? If they are in your neighbour's property do you have access to assess the situation there? Has any damage been done to the nest to date?
Keep us informed, as building works and nests seem to be a recurring situation and I'm sure several forum members will be interested in the outcome.
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" - Wlliam Blake
Thanks for link sugar, will read shortly.
Claire - workmen have been very good, (one being the owners son in law!) They have left the eave that nest is on and have worked round rear of house, basically as owner went golfing and had not returned before they left. I am trying to delay work until they fledge which I think should only be another week or two. I know joiner (who agrees with me) is going on holiday on Wednesday so if I can prevent anything before then there will probably be no work done on fascias etc until he returns. My main problem is their boss/owner of house who may do damage to the nest himself as he has said if workers won't destroy nest then he will. To date there is no damage but I know they have to remove the wood that the nest is attached to for them to put on the upvc. I can watch all goings on as our houses are detached and my side window looks onto their gable end where nest is, probably about 20ft away. Should anything happen meantime, I have my camera at the ready and I will photograph anything untoward. Then perhaps the police WILL act! Should the worst happen then I will endeavor to save any nestlings and contact SSPCA for more help. Owner usually leaves on a Sunday so hopefully he does nothing before leaving then that gives me (& birds) some grace. Thanks everybody for their help in this matter, I am so glad I found this site. I just dread that these wee souls come so far to breed etc then some idiot destroys all they are trying to achieve. I will keep you all posted with any updates.
Just noticed that Sugars link is for England & Wales, I wonder if law is same in Scotland? I would hope in this instance it is. I will try and find similar for here.
The basic elements of wildife law are the same in England, Wales and Scotland. There are some differences and where there are, Scottish law tends to be harsher than for the rest of us.
You need to get evidence and as Scottish law requires corroboration make sure you get good photos to back up your verbal evidence. Make sure you have identified your birds correctly as the nest site you describe would point to House Martin rather than Swallow. Something as simple as a misidentification can cause problems later on even if both species have the same protection.
Finally you dont need a Wildlife Officer to report such offences to. This is a crime that all Police Officers can deal with. Wildlife Officers tend to be there to give advice to their colleagues. Wildlife Officers work well when they are available but sometimes it is too easy for others then to 'pass the buck'.
It does look as though you may have gained time on this. As yet there has been no crime committed but the danger is that the nest will mysteriously disappear and while you may presume who did it it still has to be proved at the end of the day.
The Cotswold Water park sightings website
My Flicker page
Unknown said:You need to get evidence and as Scottish law requires corroboration
Bob,
I'm afraid the requirement for corroboration in Scots Law may not, in the near future, be necessary ( see Lord Carloway's recent report online - he describes it as being archaic), although the best evidence is always corroborated regardless of the jurisdiction.
ibb,
Are you sure the nest is that of a swallow? As Bob indicates, and from your description it could be a House Martin's nest - tho Martins do tend to nest in colonies.
You may find helpful information on the wildlife and countryside act (link below)
jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-3614
Thanks Bob. God I am not sure if it is house martins or swallows. I'll try to get positive i.d. and confirm. camera out again. I am definitely not letting this go without a fight. there is only one nest in our road this year, last year a pair nested on the neighbours other gable end too but not this year cos I've checked. I'll have a look on tweeties link too. Think I'll try local (23 miles away so they turn up when it suits them) police again just so my concern is noted.