"Judith wrote in message ...
I have a clematis over my front door and obviously it's not in leaf now.
However we have 2 nests there and usually the birds vacate the nests for
the winter. One nest is still fully occupied and dropping its
"droppings"
over my pansies in a pot. Why have the birds chosen not to go away this
year? If I take the nest away, would the birds be able to make another
elsewhere ? or would they suffer? if so they can lodge on a little longer.
--

Judith, you don't say which type of bird is roosting there, but it may be
Wrens as they are known to roost in quite large numbers in old nests. It
appears one nest in a region seems to be favoured so you can get rather a
lot in a small nest which aids their keeping warm these cold nights.
There are other birds that do the same to keep warm I believe.
Please don't remove the nest until it's no longer needed, possibly April!

I actually think you're quite lucky, what's a few Pansies? :-)

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.