How to Help Birds Stuck in Chimneys

This is a common and potentially frustrating problem for wildlife rescues. The difficulty is this scenario involves little hands on rescuing of the bird itself and often involves more DIY or even professional building work. Please bear in mind that wildlife rescues operate entirely on donations so have very limited resources. They may not be able to send a volunteer rescuer out unless specialist wildlife handling skills are required. There is little point them coming out if what is actually needed is someone to move a fitted fire for example.

Much depends on what is at the bottom of your chimney. If it is open at the bottom then you should start by trying to tempt the bird out under it's own steam. Leave the room and open any windows, pulling back any curtains. Place a torch at the base of the chimney and hopefully the bird will head towards the light and out the window. Try this for a few hours, remembering to keep the room completely quiet.

If you have no luck with this, try to look up the chimney using your torch and get an idea of where in the chimney the bird is. Many chimneys have a ledge a short way up and birds often settle there. They can then usually be reached and removed quite easily. If the bird is healthy, adult and unharmed you can release it immediately if it is daylight. If it's dark then keep it in a box overnight with some water and seed, bread or broken biscuit. If the bird is further up, cannot be reached or is injured or looking sickly then call a wildlife rescue for further assistance.

If the chimney is blocked at the bottom by a fitted fire then the first step will be to get the fire removed. You will need to arrange for this to be done yourself. If it is a gas fire then it will need to be moved by a registered corgi engineer. You should then follow the steps above as for an unblocked chimney.

If the chimney is sealed at the bottom then the only way to help the bird will be to make a hole in your wall! You need to decide if you are willing to have this done and you need to have someone there who will do this. A wildlife rescue will not be able to do this for you. Again once the hole is made follow the advice as for an open chimney.