nesting house martins

horse10

hi does anyone know if its illegal to remove house martins nest as my unapproachable neighbour has 2 nests just above the windows and i,m afraid he,s going to remove them and i love to see the birds come and go

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Yes it is illegal to remove a nest. All birds their nests and eggs are protected by law: the Wildlife & Countryside Act of 1981. This makes it an offence, with certain exceptions, to deliberately take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built. It is also illegal to take or destroy the egg of any wild bird.

dok_golf

The Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 is actually a U.K. act. We have the 1976 Wildlife Act which prohibits the removal of nests/eggs of PROTECTED SPECIES (which are listed). It is perfectly legal ( though a matter of opinion as to right/wrong ) to remove nests of House Martins/ Swallows, once they have flown for the winter. I refer to section G below:

(5) It shall not be an offence for a person—

(b) while so engaged or engaged in agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, forestry or turbary unintentionally to injure or kill a protected wild bird, or

(d) to capture an injured or disabled protected wild bird or the orphaned and dependant young of such a bird for the purpose of killing it humanely, or

(e) to kill humanely a protected wild bird which has been injured in the manner described in paragraph (b), or captured in the manner described in paragraph (d) or injured in the circumstances described in paragraph (h) of this subsection and where the bird is so injured or disabled that there is no reasonable chance of its recovering, or

(g) to destroy or remove any such nest which is built in or on an occupied building unless the nest contains the eggs or young of a protected wild bird

Mycroft H

dok_golf is dead right. Unless a specific bird is on "schedule 2" as called by the NPWS, it is perfectly legal to interfere with nesting birds on Ireland.

The only birds that are illegal to interfere with without a specific licence are the rare birds of ireland and the ones of serious decline. I cant remember the specific list of the top of my head as I cant find my licence

However I still think its unethical to remove them, as there close to fledging at this stage and should be moving south soon.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I'm not going to get caught up in the entire Wildlife Act but It's an offence to intentionally interfere with any wild birds nest. The section G reference is irrelevent to the question asked and is out of context. Read the entire act. I did quote the wrong act (was with collegues in N. Ireland at the time and forgot where i was:) ) but the illegality remains. Once empty it can be removed. Thread dates back to June remember.

Schedule 2 does not apply here at all. Why mislead like this? chedule prescribes some birds. The call is also with the minister not NPWS.

e.g.
22.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) hereof, this section applies to every wild bird other than a wild bird of a species specified in the Third Schedule to this Act.


Third schedule does not include House Martins.

LostCovey

So the people who power-hose House Martin nests off their houses in Ireland are breaking the law???????

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Depends on when they do it.