Pigeons, panels and why we fit mesh as part of the job

An array sits on rails, a few inches clear of the tiles. To a pigeon, that is a warm, dry, sheltered, predator-proof cavity that runs the entire width of your roof.

They find it quickly.

What actually goes wrong

It is not simply noise, though the noise is considerable and it is directly above a bedroom.

Nesting material builds up under the panels and blocks the airflow the array relies on to stay cool. Droppings are acidic and they accumulate: on the tiles, in the gutters, down the elevation. Gutters block, and a blocked gutter on a Sussex winter is its own separate problem. Twigs and feathers work their way into the cable runs and against the back of the panels. And once a colony is established, clearing it means getting under the array, cleaning the roof, disposing of the mess, and only then fitting the mesh you could have fitted on day one.

That is a day’s work and a scaffold. The mesh, fitted during the original install when the scaffold is already up, is a fraction of it.

The law comes before the ladder

This is the part most people find out about too late. In England every wild bird, its eggs and its nest are protected by law, and that includes feral pigeons and gulls. You are breaking the law if you intentionally damage or destroy a nest while it is being used or built, and the government’s own guidance is that you must try deterrence, and time your work to avoid the breeding season, before anything more drastic is even considered.

In practice that means two things for a solar roof:

• If birds are already nesting under your panels, the nest cannot simply be pulled out. You wait until it is no longer in use, then clear and mesh. Feral pigeons are not confined to a spring nesting season, so “wait until autumn” is not always the end of it.
• Mesh fitted before they move in is deterrence, which is exactly what the guidance asks for. Nothing is harmed, there is nothing to wait for, and you never have the conversation about licences.

That is the whole argument for doing it at install rather than later, and it is a legal argument before it is a financial one.

What the mesh is

A galvanised or PVC-coated wire mesh, clipped to the perimeter of the array with purpose-made clips that grip the panel frame. Nothing is drilled, screwed or fixed into your roof covering, which matters a great deal on clay peg tile and matters enormously on Horsham stone.

It follows the array edge, so from the ground it disappears. On an all-black array with black-coated mesh you have to know it is there to see it.

Mesh against the alternatives

• Spikes stop birds perching on a ridge or a gutter. They do nothing about the cavity under the panels, which is where the nest goes.
• Gels, scarers and ultrasonic boxes are deterrents at best. Pigeons habituate to all of them, and none of them closes the gap.
• Plastic “skirts” or trims that push into the gap can work, but they are only as good as the fit, and they are the first thing to go brittle in UV and salt air.
• Clipped wire mesh physically closes the cavity, keeps the airflow, is fitted without touching the roof covering, and lasts as long as the array. It is the only one of these we fit.

Clips, not screws

A panel frame is the manufacturer’s product. Drilling into it is a modification, and it is the kind of thing a warranty claim turns on years later. A clip system avoids the question entirely: the clip grips the frame, the mesh hangs from the clip, and the panel is exactly as it left the factory. If anyone proposes drilling your panels, or screwing into your tiles, to fit bird protection, ask them why.

Which roofs need it

Not all of them. Roofs we would always mesh:

• Anywhere with an established pigeon or gull population nearby, which on this coast is most seafront property from Brighton and Hove to Littlehampton
• Roofs near mature trees, or with an existing history of birds in the eaves
• Any array where the panel-to-tile gap is generous
• Coastal jobs generally, from Worthing along to solar panels in Shoreham-by-Sea and the harbour. Gulls are larger, more persistent and considerably harder to move on

Roofs where we might not bother: in-roof systems, where the panels sit down into the covering and there is no cavity to occupy.

What decides the cost

We price it at the survey and we price it openly, so we would rather explain what moves the number than quote one here that will not be yours.

• Whether the scaffold is already up. Mesh fitted during the install adds materials and an hour or two. Mesh fitted on a return visit adds access, and on a two-storey house that usually means a scaffold or tower, which is most of the bill.
• The perimeter, not the panel count. A long, thin array has more edge per panel than a compact block. The mesh runs along the edge, so edge is what you pay for.
• Whether there is a clean-out first. Established nests mean removing the material and the droppings, cleaning the tiles and clearing the gutters before any mesh goes on. That can be the larger half of the job.
• The coating. Black PVC-coated mesh on an all-black array costs a little more than plain galvanised and is worth it, because you will look at the roof every day.

Already got pigeons?

Then the order of work is: confirm the nest is not in use, clear the nesting material and droppings from under the array, clean the roof and the gutters, check the cabling and the panel backs while the access is there, and fit the mesh. On a typical house that is a day, with the scaffold or tower as the main cost.

We fit mesh on the arrays we install. If your array was fitted by someone else, get in touch anyway and we will tell you honestly whether it is something we can help with.

Does it need looking after?

Very little. The mesh is passive. What is worth doing is a glance at the clips when the gutters are cleared, because a clip that has let go leaves a gap and a gap is all a pigeon needs. If you have a monitoring app on your system, a panel that suddenly reads low in one corner is sometimes a nest, not a fault.

Three questions we get asked

Does bird mesh affect the panels’ output? Not when it is fitted along the perimeter as described. It does not shade the glass and it keeps the airflow under the array, which is what the panels want.

Can I fit it myself? The mesh and clips are sold for it. The problem is not the mesh, it is working at the edge of a pitched roof two storeys up, and doing it to a frame you do not want to damage. We would not.

Will it stop gulls? Fitted properly, yes. Gulls are the reason we specify the clip spacing and the mesh gauge the way we do on coastal jobs rather than using the lightest kit available.

The upsell question

We would rather fit it while the scaffold is up and it costs very little than come back in two years and charge you properly for the same job plus a clean-up. It is mentioned at the survey, priced openly, and it is your call.