Garden birds rely on undisturbed nesting opportunities during the breeding season, and human gardening activities during this period cause significant welfare harm to breeding birds and their chicks.
Nesting birds are vulnerable to multiple welfare threats during the breeding season. Destruction of nests containing eggs or chicks during tree or hedge work causes abandonment and death. Cat predation is a significant source of mortality and injury for both adult birds and fledglings. Toxic chemical use in gardens depletes the invertebrate prey that parent birds need to raise chicks. Parent birds that have invested significant energy in egg production and incubation experience distress when nests are disturbed or destroyed, and the chicks face death from hypothermia or starvation.