Birds nest in my house's ivy, ivy causing damage, when should I get rid of the ivy? (1 Viewer)

[ReidBird]

I have ivy growing on my house. A lot of it. And it is a brick house and the roots are damaging the house by going into the mortar and bricks.

It appears to be populated by sparrows, wrens, and the like. I don't know what their breeding schedule is and would like to remove the ivy when it would least interfere with their lives. Winters can be harsh in Chicago, so I would like them to be able to move on before the winter sets in. I believe they have stayed there in the ivy over the winter for years. I love the look of the ivy and having the birds there, but can't have my house damaged.

So when is the best time of year to remove the ivy?

ReidBird

 

[timwootton]

Yes, you're right that birds use ivy all year round - in summer for breeding and in winter for roosting. The jury is out regarding potential damage to walls by ivy - the issue seems to be the quality of the wall in the first place. Take a quick glance at this site for a bit more information:
http://www.tmac.clara.net/urgring/faqivy.html

 

[joannec]

Hi Reidbird,

I had this very dilemma. We have a wintering population of about 35 house sparrows. Not worried about the bricks and morter being damaged; as Tim says, the jury is still out on that. However in our case the house was being smothered and the ivy was beginning to grow under the roof tiles so we had to do something. The best time I decided was to do it in February. The birds, I reasoned, would by then have eaten most of the ivy berries but wouldn't have yet begun nesting. So last February, armed with an assortment of tools we set to work. We removed about half of the ivy altogether, all from the roof and cut back hard about half of the rest. There is still another lot on a different part of the house and some growing thickly on the garage which we left untouched so we didn't in any way remove all of it.

Nesting is going well this season with many chicks fledged and maybe 15 nests in the ivy that remains and the nearby hedge and also a clematis growing up the house as well. So plenty of nest habitat left.

My advice would be not to cut it all at once, and wait until the winter is almost over. You will need to ensure that there is suitable nesting habitat for them in what remains. And you could put up sparrow nest boxes. They are wooden boxes that have several adjoining compartments. Sparrows like to nest communally.

Joanne

 

[ReidBird]

Thanks Tim and Joanne. I have decided to hold off on doing anything other than monitor what is happening with my bricks.

Once a year I do go up and remove any parts of vines that are within two feet of the gutters to keep the ivy off of the roof.

I just read Ivy On Brickwork put out by the brick industry and it seemed to give a balanced view of the situation.

Interestingly, grape vines are now competing with my ivy for wall space, and since grape leaves have long stems, the grape vines are stealing a lot of the sunlight from the ivy. But of course grape vines lose their leaves during the winter. Hordes of grackles descend on my house during the fall in a grape feeding frenzy, which is quite exciting. Yet they don't strip all the grapes. The grape vines are a lot less problem, as they can be removed very easily if I wanted and they don't dig in. But I think that the grape vines may eventually replace the ivy.

Thanks for your input! (And, Tim, nice artwork!)

ReidBird

 

[cjay]

There are a lot of myths that Ivy damages trees and brickwork but the plant only uses the substrate to cling onto. are we talking Hedera helix ssp?

I have lost count of the number of times I have caught people cutting ivy down on trees "Cos it kills them"

Ivy is a very important plant for many insects and birds.

 

[ReidBird]

CJay,

Yes the ivy appears to be Hedera helix 'Thorndale'.