Prevent nesting in boiler flue

EDit

Had minor fire in horizontal part of boiler flue yesterday and found a load of burnt sticks/leaves when the flames were extinguished. Pulled it all out and thought no more of it. This morning, wife spotted a small bird flying into the flue with stick in its beak and, upon inspection, i can see a new pile of nesting material in the flue.

Thought about rapping chicken wire around end of flue, but the bird was pretty small and i don’t want to harm the thing

Any suggestions on best way to gently encourage the bird to nest elsewhere?

fiacha

Remove the nest material now before any eggs are laid. Cover the flue with small diameter wire mesh. It's a safety hazzard so no reason to worry about doing it.
Depending on the species, it's often males building nests to attract females (and often failing miserably:)). The female will decide if the nest is suitable or not
They'll set up shop somewhere else, no harm done.

fryup

chicken wire should do the job

magicbastarder

could you stick a cowl on the end?
https://www.goodwins.ie/chimney-cowls/c-2468.html

EDit

Thanks. There is a cowl there already, but bird is getting in through gap. Ithink we’ll get some small diameter chicken wire on there and hope that works

fiacha

13mm x 13mm weld mesh should do it. can maybe pick it up by the metre in your local hardware store.