[goosepimple]

We are having a Housemartin problem with prolific nest building on the gable ends and dormers of our house.  I love them too, but their poo is becoming a problem, splatted all across our house and mounds of it building up on window cills at first floor level etc - we have around a dozen mud nests on the gable ends and around 4 on each dormer window. 
 
I know you get the spikey deterents but they look aggressive, you also get spring/wire versions but I think they are for larger birds such as pigeons, and can see the HMs getting past those - any other ideas?  I just wish they'd keep to the barns.

[lachlanandmarcus]

I think the clue is in the name , swallows live in barns (inside buildings), housemartins.....well...houses really, they dont have anywhere else to go...
Could you  just discourage them over doorways and tolerate them elsewhere? They are struggling a bit as a species and arent as flexible as swallows at adopting new places to nest.

[Fleecewife]

We went to enormous lengths this summer to save a housemartins nest which was threatening to collapse just as the chicks hatched - some folks enemies are anothers best friends 
 
As L&M has said - is it possible for you to tolerate them away from the windows?  That way, you could block off the places you don't want them to nest in (over the winter - too late now for this year) and leave them be in less annoying places.  I appreciate that their droppings are a nuisance and can attract flies, which you don't want near bedroom windows.  They are not greatly bothered by people coming close, although they will dive bomb you if they have young, so you can do a regular clean up through the summer then have a thorough scrub and disinfect once they fly away for the winter.
 
They say that martins nest on happy homes  , so you could look on their presence as an honour, a bit like having messy guests - you love having them but can't wait for them to go 

[Bert]

Put a shelf under the nest to catch the poo (if possible). You still have to clean it at the end of the breeding season but it's not landing on your window cills.

[goosepimple]

Thanks for your replies, I wrote a feedback last night but sent it seconds before Bolts race and our laptops both crashed much to OHs frustration, so here's the second version  .


Yes, have been thinking about all this and think we shall have to come to a happy agreement with our little arrowed friends that we keep the dormers nest free with some kind of deterrent planted on and they can have the gable ends for nest building, that way we can live as nature intended, in harmony.  I will have to scrape off this years nests on the gable ends though so we can get the timbers painted - we scraped off 3 from the gable end early this year and they rewarded us with building 8 - must be the abundance of mud I expect. 

[lachlanandmarcus]

  bless you goosepimple  sounds like a very good plan. I know its a pain when you realise that you have a lot more neighbours than you wanted, and they all have beady eyes and beaks, but your plan sounds like a fab one to help support the wee birds. They may show their gratitude but probably only by plopping a 'lucky' one on you :-))))

[goosepimple]

    its lovely to see all the wee faces peering down at me over the nests and as architects ourselves we should appreciate and learn from their eco-natural-vernacular homes 

[Fleecewife]

      you could include 'no go' areas and 'martin friendly' areas into the buildings you design 

[darkbrowneggs]

I would love to have housemartins but I think my house is a little too low, but I do have swallows. 
 
For many years there was only one nest each year, but after a while by carefully making more places they might like to build when I was doing any property improvements I built up to 8 one year, though our current rainy weather has knocked them back 
 
They often try to build in the porches right over the doorways and I tried various deterrent methods each year before they started building (with no avail I might say)  Then hit on a brainwave and got a hanging basket coconut type liner cut it up and stapelled it into "swallow nest" shapes which were then fixed in locations I DID want them.  INSTANT success.  They moved into the first one and started nest making the same day it was fixed up.  They also appreciate a mound of small feathery fluffy stuff nearby for nest lining material
 
I know you can buy housemartin preformed nests.  Perhaps you could fix a few of those in the least troublesome position and see what happens.  Though it would be worth noting the aspect of their preferred locations in case you fix them where it is too hot-cold-sunny-windy etc for their precise breeding requirements.
 
House where housemartins live are happy homes - old proverb 

[HelenVF]

Our old house had a few martins nests but our neighbour didn't want them. They somehow attached bits of carrier bags at the top of the windows and they didn't have any.

Re: too low, we had one nest above our front door which was very low. We did put a tray underneath it as we didn't want the muck on the front doorstep.

Helen

[goosepimple]

Carrier bags - not sure how that would look.  Like the idea of the liners - what a great idea, I could include those in designs easily - hope the Planning Dept would appreciate that. 


We seem to have a lot more nests this year for some reason - I took a good look today, there are about 15 on the house alone, suppose it is the mud / wet weather - we have had big diggers in too churning up our place so we are triple salco-ing around in mud.


It is always sad when they go for the year though.  Nice but messy, bit like the kids..the dog....the goats...the ducks etc etc 

[Bramblecot]

One of our houses always had housemartin nests - and I agree the poo is a nuisance - but i loved them .   Some say they bring good luck to anywhere they make a home - they were happy times in that house.

[goosepimple]

We're not actually living in our house at the moment as we've gutted it - we are staying in our mill at the moment - wonder if they'll continue to nest as a good omen when we get back in 

[anderso]

have you thought about putting a run of netting across the area you dont wish them to be -

[goosepimple]

Yes, but I'm always worried they don't see it and get caught.  We shall just cherish their time with us and clean up the mess after, a bit like the bloomin' kids.