Nesting birds
Can roof work go ahead if birds are nesting?
The short answer
Partly. The section of roof holding a nest that is in use has to wait, because the law makes it an offence to deliberately wreck a nest that birds are occupying or still building, and GOV.UK adds that no licence exists to allow development or construction. Work on other parts of the building can often carry on, and an empty nest can be dealt with afterwards.
Where birds nest on a roof, which work waits for them, and what to do if you spot a nest before a repair starts.
What the rule says about nests
GOV.UK guidance on wild birds says it is an offence to deliberately remove or wreck a nest while birds are using it or still building it. The word that matters is "intentionally", and the other phrase to notice is "while it is being used". A nest that has been abandoned or finished with stands in a different position from one holding eggs or chicks.
The same guidance says no licence exists for development or construction purposes. In plain terms, a roofing job is not a reason that lets anyone clear an active nest. The page also names no calendar cut-off, so the test is whether the nest is in use, not what the date happens to be.
That is why a roofer's first move on finding a nest is to stop work in that spot and tell the homeowner, rather than carry on and hope nobody notices. Hope is not a defence, and it is bad for the birds.
Where birds nest on a roof
Birds look for dry, sheltered gaps, and a roof is full of them. Common spots are behind a fascia board, in the gap where a soffit has pulled away, under the ends of ridge and hip tiles, in a broken or missing tile, and on the open top of an uncapped chimney stack. A loose bargeboard at a gable end is another.
Several of those places are exactly where repairs happen. Re-bedding a ridge, replacing a fascia or capping a stack all go through the spots birds like. Our pages on ridge tile repairs and gutters, soffits and fascias describe what those jobs involve.
You can often see the signs from the ground: a bird going in and out of the same gap, straw or twigs poking out, droppings on the path below, or the sound of chicks calling in spring and early summer. A little time spent watching a roofline beats a surprise halfway through the work.
What waits and what carries on
If the survey finds an active nest, the area around it waits. If one turns up halfway through a job, we stop at that spot, make the roof weathertight around it where we can do so safely, and tell you. The work does not have to stand still everywhere. Another slope, the back of the house or a flat-roofed extension may be able to go ahead, and a repair on the loft side away from the gap may be possible too.
That is a practical call made on site, job by job, and not a blanket rule. It does mean a programme can slip. A nest still in use when the scaffold goes up will move the date of the work beside it, and we would rather say so at the survey than on day three.
After our visit the price reaches you on paper, as a single sum. A nest affects timing and the order of work, and we explain how before you agree to go ahead.
If you find a nest before the work starts
Leave it alone. Do not pull it out, poke into the gap or block the hole, even to help the roofers. Take a photograph from the ground, note roughly where it is, and mention it when you book the survey. If you are unsure whether the nest is in use, watch for a few minutes: a bird flying in with food, or chicks calling, means it is.
If the roof is leaking while a nest is occupied, say so on the call. A leak jumps the queue with us: the roof gets made safe ahead of anything else, and the repair is then planned around the nest. Our roof repair survey visit page shows how that first visit runs.
Do not leave a real leak for months while you wait for the young to fly. Water damage grows quietly and costs more later, so ask for the survey now and let us plan the order of work.
Dealing with the empty nest afterwards
Once the young have left and the nest is no longer in use, the offence described in the guidance stops applying to it, and the repair can be finished. Closing the gap, replacing the board or capping the stack then follows, so the same spot is not taken up year after year.
Make sure the nest really is finished with. If you are unsure, a few more days costs little, and we can come back when you are ready. Old nesting material goes out with the rest of the debris from that repair, and the roof is left neat.
Birds are one of two protected visitors a roofer is likely to meet, and each calls for the same pause. Our guide to bats and roof work covers the other, and the range of jobs we take on starts at our roofing page for Bognor Regis.
Related questions
Nesting bird questions
Is there a date after which nests no longer matter?
The GOV.UK guidance does not set one. What counts is whether the nest is being used or built. A calendar rule of thumb is no substitute for looking, so we check for activity at the survey and again before the work begins.
Can the roofers just remove a nest in the way?
Not while it is in use. Deliberately wrecking an active nest is an offence, and development or construction is not a licensed reason to do it. The work around it waits, and the nest is dealt with once it has been left empty.