Green Building Forum - Glazing and wildlife

Glazing and wildlife

owlman — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:32:33 +0100

For three or four years now we've had problems with rooks,-or a rook (?), problem there they all look the same,. It, they, want to bash their brains out on the windows. A couple of the DG windows are badly and permanently scratched. This last year it's got particularly bad and usually starts at about 5 am. We guess its territorial and a result of reflection. the usual dangly shiny things or festooning the window with raptor cutouts don't seem to deter and the internet is not much help either. I remember one of my clients a few years ago, whose house was frequently the scene of thrush suicides.
First; anyone got any bright ideas for a solution short of a shotgun.
Second; Is the increasing useage of huge glazed areas in out homes very bad, not only from an insulation point of view, but also from a wildlife perspective?
Third; Bit of a daft question, but are there any non reflective sealed units?

Edit: We OWLS generally don't have a problem, being mainly nocturnal.

Glazing and wildlife

SteamyTea — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:39:01 +0100

"Posted By: owlmanSecond; Is the increasing useage of huge glazed areas in out homes very bad, not only from an insulation point of view, but also from a wildlife perspective?"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22395664
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/moreorless/moreorless_20130506-1200a.mp3

Have you thought of a pet owl?

Glazing and wildlife

dickster — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:59:06 +0100

We stopped cleaning the windows!

Glazing and wildlife

Jamster — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:05:19 +0100

Dickster, perfect excuse!

Glazing and wildlife

Jonti — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:57:35 +0100

Maybe non reflective glass or a foliar. It is illegal to shoot rooks as far as I am aware so not a good option

Another way might be to use the black mosquito netting to reduce the reflection.

Jonti

Glazing and wildlife

skyewright — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:15:01 +0100

Posted By: owlmanFor three or four years now we've had problems with rooks,-or a rook (?), problem there they all look the same,. It, they, want to bash their brains out on the windows.

We have occasional problems with hoodies (Hooded Crows) doing the same thing tapping on a NW facing gable end loft window. I think that reflection in the glass is part of it, but my impression is that it happens less often if I make sure there's nothing shiny in the loft in the area of the window.

Glazing and wildlife

Ed Davies — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:03:25 +0100

Should have shot it yesterday, apparently:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3300692/Pie-from-the-sky.html

Glazing and wildlife

dickster — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:09:29 +0100

Seriously though...we stopped cleaning the windows and it worked! No glasskill. We went away, let our friends stay in the house. As a thank you they cleaned all those terrible dirty windows, resulting in probably a death every other day until muck built up again.

Glazing and wildlife

pmusgrove — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:17:01 +0100

Down here in Somerset the rooks are a pest but boy are they wise! You seem to be able to walk around without a gun and they totally ignore me but if you just think about getting one out of the cabinet they are off! They do make a mess of windows but my theory is that they are showing off. I have often seen a male going hammer and tongs against his reflection in a window whilst (presumably) a female walks around underneath admiring the performance; they then fly off together. We tried the usual things to scare them away but nothing really worked other than having a dog or cat in the area. The saving grace is that here it only went on for one season, the following spring the rooks were still here but not attacking the windows.

Glazing and wildlife

Paul_B — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:59:29 +0100

Interesting, I've seen or should I say heard a rook fly into a big reflective glass window at work and it made everyone jump with the huge noise. The rook killed itself and wasn't taken away until the magpies decided to feast on it some time later, at which point our facilities team decided that was a bit too much nature upfront. Apparently 100 million birds a year collide with windows in the UK of which a third die (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3505256.stm) maybe we should ban windows instead of wind turbines ;o)

Glazing and wildlife

owlman — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:10:16 +0100

There must be a way of coating glass with a non reflective surface at least in one direction. Non reflective picture glass has been used for years although that does appear to achieve it's result via a slightly abraded surface rather than a coating, I may be wrong. Exterior shutters are possibly another option.

Glazing and wildlife

SteamyTea — Wed, 15 May 2013 06:36:05 +0100

Wish windows attracted high speed Seagulls.

Glazing and wildlife

Nick Parsons — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:42:40 +0100

''Wish windows attracted high speed Seagulls.''

Our big (1960's-style) picture window in Swansea did! I was pretty amazed it did not get broken.

Glazing and wildlife

djh — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:32:49 +0100

Posted By: owlmanThere must be a way of coating glass with a non reflective surface at least in one direction.

It's all possible, of course. My spectacles have anti-reflection coatings. Binoculars, cameras etc have anti-reflection coatings. I guess it is simply the cost that means windows don't.

You can get anti-glare stick-ons for computer monitors. I just found an interesting discussion at http://www.tspinc.com/anti-glare-vs-anti-reflective/

An external flyscreen mesh might be a reasonably cheap possibility.

Glazing and wildlife

owlman — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:24:06 +0100

Posted By: djh...........An external flyscreen mesh might be a reasonably cheap possibility.

Sort of external grade mesh roller blind might do the job.

Glazing and wildlife

Saint — Wed, 15 May 2013 23:17:39 +0100

Used to visit an office in the south of Germany regularly. Built in a very rural situation with full height glazed facades in certain sections.
After a couple of visits I noticed a few silhouettes of birds stuck on the glass in strategic positions. When I asked the reason I was told that the life size silhouettes of these birds of prey frightened the other birds away and so prevented bird strikes on the windows. Not an ornithologist so no idea what the birds were but judging by the size they were probably hawks. Definitely not golden eagles!

Glazing and wildlife

jms452 — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:45:58 +0100

Posted By: owlmanThere must be a way of coating glass with a non reflective surface at least in one direction

Uniform thin films tend to have a colour(s) which most people wouldn't like on windows (sometimes these are present on high performance PV too). There are a class of nano structures often known as moth eye that will do it and increase your solar gain too but as as dgh says

Posted By: djh. I guess it is simply the cost

Glazing and wildlife

owlman — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:07:04 +0100

Posted By: jms452............ There are a class of nano structures often known as moth eye that will do it and increase your solar gain too but as as dgh says

Pedhaps the future of glazing, at least for highrises and the like, is to combine it with photovoltaic; print the PV generator like wallpaper of such a material and encapsulate it and then incorporate it into sealed units. Whole walls then become generators.

Glazing and wildlife

djh — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:11:46 +0100

The future? 2005:

http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/aboutus/The-Co-operative-Group-Values-and-Principles/ourvaluesinaction/thesolartower/

Glazing and wildlife

Jonti — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:11:31 +0100

Using the silhouettes of birds of prey is probably useless when it comes to crows as they will usually have a go at any hawk, kites, etc.... in an attempt to chase them off. Seems to me, having stickers of such birds on the window will be more likely to encourage crows to attack your windows than frighten them off.

Jonti

Glazing and wildlife

SteamyTea — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:26:06 +0100

Quite often see the crows and magpies duelling with buzzards and seagulls down here.

Glazing and wildlife

joe90 — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:51:46 +0100

Yes, we have buzzards in the woods behind where I live and they are always being pestered by crows etc despite their being smaller.

Glazing and wildlife

SteamyTea — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:54:04 +0100

The real nasty one is a Robin. I have been attacked by one in a shed. They can hover like a humming bird.

Glazing and wildlife

owlman — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:07:26 +0100

Posted By: SteamyTea...........The real nasty one is a Robin.

Or swallows; once their chicks have hatched they'll dive bomb anything that moves in the garden especially the cat, but they also have a go at the dogs and me too, if they are feeling particularly bellicose.

Glazing and wildlife

Saint — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:18:24 +0100

Posted By: JontiUsing the silhouettes of birds of prey is probably useless when it comes to crows as they will usually have a go at any hawk, kites, etc.... in an attempt to chase them off. Seems to me, having stickers of such birds on the window will be more likely to encourage crows to attack your windows than frighten them off.

You could be right although I didn't see piles of squashed face crows, maybe they don't get crows near the black forest...nor parakeets apparently, in fact there was a distinct lack of "this bird is extinct" evidence altogether