Pigeons live under solar panels. We make sure they can't.
We fit bird netting around solar panels using ladders and rope access, so there is no scaffolding to hire, no permit to wait for and nothing parked outside your house for a week. Most homes are finished in a single morning.
Get a fixed price
Tell us where you are and roughly how many panels you have. Two photos of the roof taken from the ground are usually all we need.
We answer enquiries five days a week and aim to send your price within one working day.
The gap under your panels is the best nesting site on your house
Panels sit roughly 100mm above the tiles on rails. That space is warm, dry, sheltered from wind and completely hidden from predators. Feral pigeons find it within a season or two, and once a pair moves in they will keep breeding there.
Fire risk
Nests are dry twigs, feathers and droppings packed into a warm, well ventilated space, sitting against DC cabling and connectors. Fires under panels are not common, but they start in the one part of the roof nobody ever looks at.
Blocked gutters and leaks
Nesting material and droppings wash down the roof and pack into gutters and valleys. Water then backs up over the fascia or under the tiles, which is how a bird problem quietly turns into a damp problem.
Lost generation
Droppings and feathers spread across the glass shade the cells, and even partial shading on one panel drags down the string it sits in. Panels that are never cleaned quietly earn you less every year.
Noise, smell and mites
Cooing and scratching directly above a bedroom ceiling starts before sunrise. A built up roost also smells in warm weather and brings bird mites, which do come indoors through the loft.
Why we never bring scaffolding
Scaffolding is the reason most bird proofing quotes come back at two or three times the price of the actual work, and it is why you then wait a fortnight for an erection date and a dismantle date around a job that takes an afternoon.
We are trained climbers. Working from ladders and, on steeper or higher roofs, from ropes anchored above the ridge is not a shortcut we take to save money, it is the discipline we came from and the reason we can reach roofs that other firms need a cherry picker for. It means one vehicle outside your house for half a day instead of a structure in your garden for two weeks.
- 50mm galvanised steel mesh. Rigid, UV stable and rustproof. Plastic netting sags and perishes within a few winters.
- Stainless clips onto the panel frame. Nothing is drilled, screwed or glued into the panels, the tiles or the roof structure.
- Ventilation kept clear. The mesh blocks birds, not airflow, so your panels carry on running at the temperature they were designed for.
- Barely visible from the ground. The mesh follows the line of the frame and sits tight against it, so the roof looks unchanged.
Where we work
We are based in Cambridge and cover everywhere within about an hour's drive, across Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Norfolk.
Not sure if you are inside it? Send your postcode and we will tell you in a sentence. If you are just outside we can often still help when we are already working nearby.
- Cambridge
- Ely
- Newmarket
- Huntingdon
- St Ives
- St Neots
- Royston
- Saffron Walden
- Haverhill
- Bury St Edmunds
- Sudbury
- Bishop's Stortford
- Stevenage
- Hitchin
- Letchworth
- Biggleswade
- Bedford
- Peterborough
- March
- Wisbech
- Thetford
- Braintree
- Chelmsford
- Colchester
- Ipswich
- Sawston
- Great Shelford
- Histon
- Cottenham
- Waterbeach
- Cambourne
- Melbourn
- Linton
- Fulbourn
Questions we get asked
Will this affect my panel warranty?
The mesh clips onto the outside of the aluminium frame. We do not drill the frame, we do not touch the glass, the wiring or the mounting rails, and we do not use adhesive on any part of the system. If your installer has specific conditions written into your warranty, send them over before we book and we will confirm we can work within them.
What if birds are already nesting under there?
Nests that are in use are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and it is an offence to damage or destroy one while there are eggs or young in it. We will not net over an active nest, and we will not pretend we did not see it. What we will do is show you the photos and either book you in for once the young have fledged, or proof the unoccupied sections now and finish the rest afterwards. Pigeons breed nearly all year round, so the best time to net is always before they arrive.
How long does it take and do I need to be in?
A standard domestic array of eight to sixteen panels takes two to four hours. We need access to the outside of the property and somewhere to stand a ladder, which is usually the driveway or the garden. You do not need to be home for the work itself, only to let us know how to get round the back.
What does it cost?
Domestic jobs start at £500 for an array of up to 8 panels, and that price covers clearing underneath, cleaning, the mesh, fitting and taking the waste away. Larger arrays, difficult access or a heavily fouled roof will move it, which is why we give you a fixed written figure up front rather than an hourly rate. Photos are enough for us to price it. There is no charge for the quote and no obligation.
Is working from ladders and ropes actually safe?
Yes, when it is done by trained climbers and matched to the roof. Rope access is the standard method for short duration work at height across the wind, rail and construction industries, and it is a rigged system with redundancy built in rather than one person and one rope. We carry full public liability insurance, and we will decline a job and tell you so if a particular roof genuinely needs a scaffold.
What happens to the mess under the panels?
Nesting material and droppings are removed, the area is treated with a biocidal cleaner, and everything is bagged and taken off site. We also clear the gutter run directly below the array, since that is usually where the worst of it ends up.
How long will the mesh last?
Galvanised steel mesh on a domestic roof should comfortably outlive the panels it is protecting. The usual failure point on cheap installations is plastic netting or unbranded clips, which is why we do not use either.
Do you do commercial roofs and blocks of flats?
Yes. Larger arrays, housing association stock and commercial roofs are all work we take on, and rope access tends to make more of a difference on those jobs than it does on a two storey house. Get in touch with the site details and we will come back to you.