andimann
2016-10-20 13:11:18
- #1
Hi everyone,
At our current house, quite a few swallows have nested over the past summers.
They are really cute, the flying show is breathtaking, and they are supposed to bring good luck!
But...
In short, as much as it pains me, we do not want any more swallow nests at the new house! The dirt and constantly the risk of self-proclaimed eco-block wardens bringing trouble into the house: no thanks!
Long story short: What options are there to prevent the little flying artists from nesting under our open roof overhang? I know:
Does anyone have other effective ideas? The option with boards under the nests to limit the dirt is ruled out due to the eco-fascist problem. I am no longer interested in having discussions about whether a nest fell by itself or not.
Best regards,
Andreas
At our current house, quite a few swallows have nested over the past summers.
They are really cute, the flying show is breathtaking, and they are supposed to bring good luck!
But...
[*]unfortunately, they make a huge mess. It’s an indescribable mess, both on the house wall itself and especially on the ground. And when the little daughter is constantly crawling through the droppings, the fun really ends!
[*]The house wall rots due to the constant fertilization
[*]And the most annoying thing: we have a few “hardcore eco-fascist block wardens” here (sorry, there’s no other way to describe such people), who keep throwing annoying notes into the mailbox saying that swallows are protected by nature conservation (I know that myself) and that they are so great, etc... One of these guys lives in the neighborhood, and characteristically he has _no_ open roof overhang but has it specially clad so that nothing can nest there! We were even reported (of course anonymously!) because we supposedly removed swallow nests. We did not, of course; the creatures started building on the north side and then moved to the east side. But the swallow nest building remains were still hanging on the north side... It was a pretty annoying discussion with the city and only ended after our threat to file a criminal complaint for defamation.
[*]Nests sometimes fall down by themselves (about 2 out of the 6-7 nests fall every year at our place). And then you always risk having the same discussions again.
In short, as much as it pains me, we do not want any more swallow nests at the new house! The dirt and constantly the risk of self-proclaimed eco-block wardens bringing trouble into the house: no thanks!
Long story short: What options are there to prevent the little flying artists from nesting under our open roof overhang? I know:
[*]These stainless steel spikes, which look very martial
[*]Complete nets, which also look rather lousy and I would also be afraid that birds might get caught in them.
[*]Strings stretched under the rafters. Either fishing line or stainless steel. The fishing line would probably have to be replaced every few years. Nylon string is not really UV stable.
[*]Boards at an angle of about 50 degrees to the house wall. That turns the sharp 70-degree angle between the house wall and roof into two obtuse angles of about 120-130 degrees.
Does anyone have other effective ideas? The option with boards under the nests to limit the dirt is ruled out due to the eco-fascist problem. I am no longer interested in having discussions about whether a nest fell by itself or not.
Best regards,
Andreas