Posts

In the UK, Starlings usually start to lay eggs, (4 to 6 in total), in mid-April with the eggs hatching 12 days after they are laid. When the young are around three weeks old they will fledge and are fed for another couple of weeks by the parents until they become fully independent. Starlings usually only raise one brood a year but if the first fledges early enough another set of eggs can sometimes be laid.

If you do have an issue with Starlings using your roof space to nest, you don’t have to put up with it. While the nest is in use you cannot interfere with it, (who would want to kill the young anyway?); but you can do something to stop it happening again next year once the young have fully fledged and the nest is no longer in use.

The owner of this house had a repeat issue with Starlings nesting in their eaves for several summers in a row. The birds were fouling down onto the conservatory and making a noise above the owners bedroom at night, much to their annoyance. When the house had been built, no eaves protection had been installed and there were gaps under the raised sections where the tiles overlap that the Starlings could fit under. If the roof had flat tiles such as slate, there wouldn’t have been an issue but the raised profile at the edges of the tiles left plenty of space for the birds to move through.

Pushing the tiles back reveals the end batten of the roof, and bird comb can be fixed in place. This simple yet effective device follows the rise and fall of the tile profile when the tiles are pulled back in place, blocking all gaps that would otherwise be open.

So there you have it. Just because you hear a bump in the night it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a rodent problem. We are coming to the end of the summer soon, sadly, but that means the Starlings will be moving off to their winter stomping grounds. If you have a problem with Starlings nesting in your roof give us a call. We have the perfect solution for you.