26/10/2026
A gentle request for Halloween week: please skip the fake spider web.
Parents mistake that stretchy webbing for the real stuff and carry it back to the nest. It doesn’t break like natural silk, so baby birds get tangled around their necks, legs and wings, and chicks can be left with deformed limbs or not survive.
Our birds are already under enormous pressure from bird flu and habitat loss. This is one danger we can easily remove.
Spooky alternatives that are bird safe: paper or card webs, black yarn taken down after the night, chalk webs on the pavement, pumpkins, paper bats and lights.
If you already have webbing up, please take it down and bin it, and check nearby trees and shrubs for stray bits. Please share with your neighbours too. Small changes on our street make a real difference to the birds that live alongside us.