How Essential?

It’s better to stop them completely rather than create something alien to them JM20. Evolution has given them the tools to allow both them & Their progeny a good chance of survival, your good hearted attempts won’t help them in the short nor long term. If you block them before they start they will migrate to a similar place without issue to yourself. I suffered similar issues & attached narrow gauge wire to stop them. My Dogs & neighbours cats looked on newly fledged chicks as toys, I found that natural yes but I was part of the problem I didn’t like so I took steps to end it.

PS-their must be a dearth of nesting sites if Blackbirds nest away from Tree cover, I have never in my lifetime found a Blackbird nest away from trees or bushes thanks for the info👍🏻

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Sometimes when a roof needs retiling the situation changes, our neighbours had jackdaws under their tiles (a very old building) but recent roof repairs have made the jackdaws look elsewhere. I don't know how the neighbours put up with the noise Jackdaws make but they did. There is usually alternative accommodation around.  Quite a few of us locally have bats in our roofs and the bats are protected. If you can put up with the Sparrows all well and good plus a nest box or two to encourage new homes, it's all a compromise. If you've got good habitat around hopefully your visitors, if they can't use your roof will find new places to nest. But try not to disturb active nests, wait till the fledglings have gone. 

PS Did you know House Sparrows are on the endangered Red List.

I hope you can find a way round for your feathered friends John. 

If the sparrows are going under the tiles, it will be cooler under there, and I doubt that even with the best of intentions, you could replicate a cool enough box for them slightly lower down. Can I ask what your garden is like, because we have hundreds of resident sparrows, and they simply love the hedges, shrubs and trees we have? We also have non invasive shrubs such as Pyracantha, dense Clematis going up the house, and again we get nesting birds in this rather than invading the roof eaves. (Used by Blackbirds, Robins and Wrens as well.) 

If the eaves overhang enough, you could try a Sparrow terrace under there? 

We are very fortunate, as all the gardens around us have mixed hedging, lots of trees and shrubs, so we do get lots of sparrows and dunnocks, as well as other residents and visitors. Garden fencing, just bare is easy maintenance, but is possibly one of the worst culprits for losing bird life. Putting climbers up it, and planting some nice shrubs helps, but they do love a decent mixed hedge as it gives them all they need to thrive. We don’t cut our hedges either between April and September, I just hand prune a bit carefully during this period. Titchmarsh and Dimmock have a lot to answer for with their ruddy Ground Force programme of years ago. All that fencing and decking, brilliant for rats, but terrible for birds, hedgehogs etc….☹️

Not in East Yorks they ain’t. I counted eleven(11) HS’s on the sunflower hearts & the mixed seed feeders. Collared Doves 4, why I mention them is because I’ve only seen 1 in nearly 2 years. Goldfinches 10, the most I’ve ever seen. A few greenfinches & chaffinches too. The HS’s bully the finches heavily.

Thanks for all your replies. We feed the birds (costs us a fortune) but we love to see them in the garden. Before the breeding season starts we have  in excess of 30 sparrows that live mainly in the tall, dense, hawthorne hedge at the bottom of the garden(as well as blackbirds, dunnocks, blue tits, wrens and robins). We also have resident hedgehogs. In July / August this number increases to a very estimated 100+. In truth it is only two pairs that have nested under the tiles the rest must nest in the hedge although I have never seen evidence of any nests. For an urban garden we don't do badly for birdlife. 

I think I'll put up the box under the overhang of the eaves and see what happens. Birds aren't daft, if it is not right for them they won't use it.

I have firethorn espalier trained along fencing TDA. In winter during pruning there are a multitude of nests👍🏻. Vicious thorns, I use my woodburner mitts when I prune-that bad🤷🏻‍♂️

I doubt you will have a problem with them finding other places to nest/roost John, but good on you for providing an alternative. Best of luck with it😁

Yes Rocky, some of the stuff I prune needs Kevlar gloves😱 I spend time de thorning my hands at times, but great for security. I have a couple of roses that are better than barb wire.

Collared doves and Wood Pigeons abound here. I am not fond of either, but they are tolerated. We do well for Goldfinches, LT Tits, and the occasional Gold Crest as well. Arboreal Warfare between Squirrels, Magpies and Jackdaws😂 Love them all though.