Bird Proofing – UK Solar Maintenance

14,991+

systems serviced & repaired across the UK

£2.5m+

in lost generation recovered for owners

Same day

most repairs finished on the engineer’s first visit

Start with what you can hear

Most roofs with a pigeon problem have a second one underneath it. Start with the birds — your engineer will tell you what the nesting has already done.

Gloved hands clipping fine galvanised mesh along the bottom edge of a rooftop solar panel, with feathers and droppings on the tiles below.

Bird proofing

Bird proofing & pest removal

Pigeons nesting under your panels are noisy, filthy and expensive — they strip cable insulation and block the airflow the panels need to stay cool.

Nesting cleared, roof area sanitised
Discreet mesh clipped to the panel frame
No harm to birds, no drilling your tiles

An engineer kneeling on a tiled roof beside a solar array, checking a panel connector with a rugged tablet.

Health check

Complete system health check

High grid voltage, dropping SEG payments, an app insisting everything is fine — plenty of faults only show up when someone puts a meter on the system.

String voltages measured against spec
Inverter fault history pulled and reviewed
Written report with the actual numbers

An engineer's hands holding a multimeter against the terminals of a wall-mounted solar inverter beside a home battery.

Diagnostics

Inverter & battery diagnostics

The most expensive parts of your system, and the most likely to fail. Degraded cells and stale firmware quietly halve your storage long before anything turns red.

Every cell tested for balance and usable capacity
Repaired where possible, not just replaced
Firmware brought up to date same visit

A technician on a driveway using a long water-fed pole brush to clean a rooftop solar array, with a clear line between cleaned and dirty panels.

Cleaning

Professional panel cleaning

Dust, pollen, moss and bird mess build a film across the glass that light never gets through. It comes off with de-ionised water and a pole — usually from the ground.

De-ionised water only, no detergents
No scaffolding on most domestic roofs
Generation readings before and after

Under the panels

You won’t see the damage. You’ll hear it first.

The gap under an array is warm, sheltered and out of reach — ideal for pigeons. By the time the noise is bad enough to act on, there is usually nesting packed across the roof and droppings down the tiles.

Twig nesting, feathers and droppings packed into the gap beneath a rooftop solar array. — Drag to compare. Cleared, cleaned and meshed — same roof edge.

The same roof edge cleared, cleaned and fitted with fine galvanised mesh. — Drag to compare. Cleared, cleaned and meshed — same roof edge.

What nesting actually costs you Beyond the noise and the mess

Stripped cable insulation. Pigeons pick at DC cable under the array. Exposed conductors on a live high-voltage run are the single most expensive thing we find.
Panels running hot. Panels shed heat into the gap beneath them. Pack that gap with nesting and they run hotter and generate less.
Blocked gutters and staining. Droppings and nesting wash down into the guttering, and the acid marks brick and render permanently.

Damage varies with how long the birds have been there. The survey tells you what is already done and what fitting mesh now prevents.

Get them out and keep them out Free survey, fixed price, no obligation.

What bird proofing actually involves

Not just a roll of mesh. This is the order the job is done in, and why skipping any of it means the birds come back.

Clearance and sanitising

Everything comes out first — nesting material, eggshell, feathers and years of droppings — and the roof area is washed down and treated before anything is fitted. Meshing over a dirty roof just seals the mess in.

Nesting removed and taken away
Tiles and panel edges washed and sanitised
Done humanely, outside nesting season where required

Mesh to the full perimeter

Fine galvanised mesh around every open edge of the array, tensioned so there is no gap to squeeze through.

Clipped, never drilled

Stainless clips fix to the panel frame. Nothing is screwed into your tiles or through the roof membrane.

Cable damage check

Pigeons strip DC cable insulation. Every run under the array is inspected and re-secured or replaced.

Airflow and panel check

Nesting blocks the gap panels rely on to stay cool. We confirm the array can breathe again and check the glass and frames for damage while we are up there.

Guaranteed to stay out

Twelve-month workmanship guarantee on the mesh. If anything gets back in, we come back.

A red-brick 1930s British semi-detached house with solar panels on the front roof slope.

A modern British new-build house in buff brick with a large rooftop solar array.

A traditional British stone cottage with solar panels on its slate roof.

A close view of a soiled rooftop solar array.

Every kind of roof

Protect your solar investment

Solar array not generating? Feed-in tariff payments dropped off? Pigeons can do real damage to wiring, and dirt and grime steadily eat your efficiency. A health check catches all of it while it’s still cheap to fix.

Terraces, semis, new-builds, listed cottages with slate — the network has engineers who work on all of them, every week.

Fixed price before any work Most repairs done first visit

Cleared and proofed in three steps

1

Tell us what’s happening

Sixty seconds on the form — what the system is doing, and your postcode. That’s enough for us to find the right engineer for the job.

2

Survey and fixed price

A certified engineer surveys the system, finds the actual fault and puts a fixed price in writing. No charge for the survey, no obligation to go ahead.

3

Serviced and repaired

Say yes and the work goes ahead — most jobs finish on the first visit, with before-and-after readings so you can see what you got back.

About 60 seconds · No obligation

We service all the major brands

Whatever’s on your roof and in your garage, someone in the network works on it every week.

Also serviced: SMA & Sunny Boy, Fronius, Tesla Powerwall, GivEnergy, Solax, Enphase, Victron, Sofar, Huawei, Samsung SDI and Solis.

What people say after the visit

My solar panels stopped generating and I was losing my FIT payments. The engineer came out, quickly diagnosed a fault with my Fronius inverter, and had it fixed the next day. Fantastic service and communication throughout.

John D. Inverter repair

We had a terrible problem with pigeons nesting under our solar panels. The noise and mess were awful. The team came and fitted the bird protection mesh quickly and professionally. They were tidy and the problem is completely solved. A huge relief!

Sarah P. Bird proofing

Booked a general maintenance check for peace of mind. The technician was brilliant — very thorough and professional. He spotted a loose connection that could have become a serious problem. I feel much better knowing the system is safe.

Mark T. Health check

Panels hadn’t been touched in nine years and were filthy. Cleaned from the ground in under two hours, no scaffolding needed, and the app showed the difference by the same afternoon. Genuinely wish I’d got it done years sooner.

Rachel H. Panel cleaning

The things people ask before they book

Still not sure? Start a survey — it costs nothing and the engineer will tell you straight.

How do I stop pigeons nesting under my solar panels?

Pigeons cause real damage — they strip cable insulation and block the airflow the panels need to stay efficient. We clear and clean the affected area, then fit a durable, discreet mesh around the array perimeter that permanently solves it without harming the birds.

Do solar systems really need maintenance at all?

They’re reliable, but they aren’t maintenance-free — it’s much the same logic as an MOT. A periodic check catches loose connections, water ingress and pest damage while they’re cheap to fix, and confirms a high-voltage generator on your roof is still safe.

How often should solar panels be cleaned?

Every one to two years for most UK roofs, or sooner if they’re visibly dirty. Rain shifts loose dust but does nothing about lichen, pollen film or bird droppings, and those are what actually cost you output.

Why have my FIT or SEG payments stopped or dropped?

That’s a clear sign the system is underperforming. It could be a faulty inverter, dirty panels, new shading from a tree or extension, or a wiring issue. The free survey exists to pinpoint which one it is and tell you what fixing it costs.

My Fronius / Sunny Boy / SolarEdge inverter isn’t working or has a fault light. What should I do?

First, try safely rebooting the system according to your manual. If the fault persists, get in touch. Our technicians are experts in inverter diagnostics and can often repair the unit rather than replace it, which gets you generating again quickly and for a good deal less money.

My Pylontech / Growatt / Lux battery isn’t working properly. Can you help?

Yes. We have engineers trained on all the major battery systems. Whether it’s failing to charge, discharging far too quickly, or throwing communication errors, we can identify the fault and tell you honestly whether it’s worth repairing.

What are the signs of high voltage from my solar system?

The usual sign is the inverter shutting down repeatedly on the sunniest days, often showing a grid voltage or overvoltage error — which means you stop exporting exactly when you’d be earning most. We can confirm it and, where it’s needed, fit a voltage optimiser.

What does it cost, and what am I committing to?

The survey costs nothing and commits you to nothing. You get a fixed price in writing for whatever work the engineer recommends, and you decide from there. Nobody starts work on your roof before you’ve agreed the number.

Book your survey

Get the pigeons out from under your panels

One short form, and a certified engineer near you picks it up. No cost for the survey, and a fixed price before anyone touches the roof.

Takes about 60 seconds · No obligation

Pigeons under your panels? Get them out for good.