Stop birds nesting under solar panels

[^woody^]

The installers should be offering a system for the panels they fit. Normally £500-£600 extra for a typical 3 bed.

Stainless steel would be preferable. Otherwise, the guards chosen should last as long as the panels, and be wary of galvanised as these can rust when they are cut or worn from abrasion.

 

[jumbotron]

def get mesh around the panels. We had panels installed and had pigeons in year after year. They wake you up before dawn in the summer cooing and leave their muck everywhere. These are south facing panels in full sun all day with no shading at all. After 3 years, we'd had enough and paid a contractor £500 or so to go round the entire array with mesh. It's stopped them nesting.

I don't understand why solar panel installers don't offer this as an add on. It would do their business good as virtually everyone would opt for it.

 

[ChrisJP]

nesting would not be successful anyway, the young would get cooked alive

Why would nesting birds get "cooked"? The space under solar panels will be cooler because no sun can get there - be definition.
Birds will definitely get under the panels if you don't install some sort of mesh around them. Apart from nesting they'll make a terrible mess with their droppings

 

[Munroast]

When we used to have birds (sparrows and starlings) nest behind our roof tiles before we fitted those plastic spikey bird blockers, they would only nest at the rear of the house and not the front as the front was in full sun for most of the day. Birds don’t like nesting in full sun so do birds actually nest behind the solar panels?

Some birds, esp Pigeons will breed all year long providing its not too cold, so I guess it is possible that ferel pigeons could nest behind solar panels in early spring and autumn; outwith the full summer sun
Most garden birds have very narrow breeding periods in late spring and there young would never survive in the temperatures that will exist between solar panels and the roof. So I doubt very few would attempt to do so.

Birds have never attempted to nest behind my or any of my neighbours panels, or any panels I have ever seen (and I have been taking particular notice since the beginning of this thread) , I seem to think it is a very rare thing so would not waste money

 

[jumbotron]

you got lucky (for whatever reason). We didn't and it was money well spent. Readers of this thread can, as with all insurances, make up their own minds as to whether they want to pay in advance or retrospectively.

 

[Munroast]

you got lucky (for whatever reason). We didn't and it was money well spent. Readers of this thread can, as with all insurances, make up their own minds as to whether they want to pay in advance or retrospectively.

so were these feral pigeons (ex racing pigeons) ?
we are quite rural and they are not a thing where we live, they seem to be a city bird. Our Wood Pigeons which a numerous are twice the size and too fat to make any use of the panels, regular garden birds don't bother with them either

 

[jumbotron]

not sure but we had pigeons three years in a row. Not sure if they were the same pair. We are in a rural seaside town. We do have a lot around as we have woods at the bottom of the street so more than average bird life.