On Jun 2, 10:33 am, "David \(Normandy\)"
wrote:
Our house is engulfed in Virginia Creeper which while it looks lovely, is
now taking over the gutters and starting to get onto the roof. The upstairs
windows have almost vanished!
It needs trimming back a foot or two at the top. The dilemma is whether to
trim it back now or wait until Autumn? Virginia creeper can damage the roof
tiles, but it is also full of nesting sparrows which I don't want to disturb
or make homeless. There appear to be several nests immediately under the
guttering in the creeper which is exactly where I want to trim. Anyone know
when sparrows stop breeding and will leave home of their own accord?

I know nothing about birds I'm afraid but I too have a house covered
in Virginia Creeper. We have it trimmed once a year usually around
March before the new growth gets going. Don't try and pull it out
from under your tiles after trimming, just leave it there it will die.

Last year we didn't have ours trimmed and it went up under gutters
etc., but we waited until all the birds had left the multiple nest,
around July in our case and thengave it a metre trim, it doesn't harm
it when you trim it.

This year we paid for a man to come in as our house is pretty high and
being a professional, it looked great afterwards, he took it down
about a metre and a half, he says it will reach the gutters by the end
of the season so it needs to be done every year.

Judith in France