What type of animal is lifting roof tiles??

[rosiewesti]

Myself and our neighbours have always fed the birds in our garden and they all seem to nest in either our trees and the sparrows nest in the ridges on the roof edge tiles. We also have a regular sparrowhawk, who has been about for years.
Over the last week something is lifting the roof tiles up, and has actually, pulled some off not only my house but neighbours too, at the moment about a quarter of the roof edge tiles have been moved or lifted. We assume that a bigger bird is lifting these to get to the baby birds? .
The tiles are being damaged during the night or daybreak times.
I must also say that we live next to a nature reserve and the only different bird in our gardens, we have seen lately is a rook hanging about.
We see at night, bats, owls, foxes and lots of hedgehogs in the gardens but simply cannot work out whats happening to our roofs.
Any advice please...Many thanks

[ELVIS68]

Squirrels?

[naomi24]

A friend of ours had squirrels in the loft. Could that be it?

[rosiewesti]

Would we not hear squirrels in the loft?

The only time I have seen squirrels is when I walk the dogs on the nature reserve and they scurry up the trees.

Is there any signs that I can look for that would indicate squirrels other than lifted tiles?

A friend suggested rats!

[ladyalex]

I thought squirrels too....they can be very destructive, especially of electrical wiring.
Hope it's not, but maybe you need to get it checked out by a pest control specialist.

[topogigo]

A Badger?

[Aprilis]

Squirrels were my first thought too.

[ELVIS68]

It could be rats, although rats would more than likely just get into the roofspace whereas squirrels have been known to eat the insulation in the loft

[terambulan]

Problem solved with one of our ferrets? They will chase everything off.

[naomi24]

Could be rats - but you'd probably hear them too. I'm sorry, I don't know what signs you should look for with squirrels, but with rats I think it would be droppings and nests. However, I think rats would enter your loft via internal pipework, so as your roof tiles have been tampered with, I'd be more inclined to go with squirrels. As ladyalex says, they can be very destructive. Perhaps you should consider getting pest controllers in to investigate before they attack the wiring. and anything else that might be in your loft.

[swotty]

I love a good mystery.
I assume it is a house and not a bungalow: therefore do any trees give good access?
Or is it climbing walls or a Drain Pipe
What type of roof is it? - Slate? Pantile?
The time seems to suit nocternal.
Location is a factor - Pinemartin?
I've seen photos of Stoats up trees, this was daylight hours.

[rosiewesti]

terambulan - Ferrets??? do not have any but have 2 cats, 2 dogs, 22 goldfish in the pond and numerous toads, frogs, hedgehogs but no ferretts!!

I am really hoping that nothing is living in the loft, I was hoping that maybe the rook had something to do with it as one of the neighbours told me a nest minus the babies was hanging out of one of her roof tiles but the tile had not been moved.

As you can guess we are animal lovers and although grey squirrels are classed as vermin, I hate the thought of destroying them.

I am sat here listening to the loft!!!!

[ELVIS68]

naomi`s right, they could attack anything else in your loft

ie, Artificial Xmas tree, 2 bags of baby clothes, old photos, old portable telly/video, box of books that you kept that one day you will read

[naomi24]

Hmmmm .... very interesting, Holmes, old chap. I like a good mystery too. :o)

Sorry, Rosie, couldn't resist swotty talking about a mystery. :o)

[swotty]

Moggies - Bl**dy Moggies
Here's me wanting something exceptional
Some could lift certain tiles I'm sure and if there has been no intrusion into your loft space they could be a possibility.

[rosiewesti]

swotty in reply to your questions;
1. Yes we live in a house, house is 10 years old
2. All the trees are at the bottom of a sloping downwards garden
3. Not sure what type roof is but they are red tiles!!

At first it was like something was pulling the nests out to get at the baby sparrows, and then we found broken eggs on the patio but not sparrow eggs! much much bigger, and then the tiles started being lifted, some are now hanging off the edge and I have had to ring a roofing chap today.

Remember all this has only happened in the last 8 days.

Thank you all for your advice it really is appreciated!!

[naomi24]

I know what you mean, Rosie. My huge garden is a nature reserve for all sorts of wildlife, and I don't like the thought of killing anything either, but if you have squirrels - or rats - or anything else in your loft - hard as it is, they really do have to go.

[swotty]

Soz about the moggies thing it was me kicking myself rather than me having a go at cats

[Ice.Maiden]

Look at the pics on here.

http://www.humanewildlifecontrol.com/issues_ba t.htm

[terambulan]

I'm serious about the ferrets.as everything runs from them, even rats! It sounds like a rook or magpies raiding nests. Ferrets will chase them off. Borrow a ferret, keep it confined in the attic and just the smell of it will ward off most.

Or try your cat up there?

I have a menagerie too! Would love some frogs but its too dry here.