Protected Species Surveys > Bats
There are 17 species of native bats in Britain all of which are legally protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Habits Regulations 1994.
Taken together these two pieces of legislation make it illegal to:
- Capture or kill a bat
- Disturb a bat whilst in a place of shelter or rest (roost)
- Damage or destroy a bat's breeding site or resting place (roost)
Greenwillows Associates personnel hold the necessary survey licences to permit disturbance where this is necessary to establish presence or absence of bats.
Habitats Regulations licences sometimes called European Protected Species Licences (EPSL's) permit work that would otherwise constitute an offence by disturbing bats and/or damaging their roosts such as demolishing a building containing a bat roost, converting a barn or felling a tree within which a bat roost is located. Greenwillows Associates have successfully obtained such licences for clients and have the expertise and experience to guide and advise our clients' architects and surveyors on the level of information required from them in order to achieve a favourable outcome.
Our Checklist of Services which complies with national best practice standards includes:
- Desk study and data searches for historical biological records pertinent to the target site
- Roost survey inspections of barns, buildings, bridges and underground structures in support of planning applications
- Bat activity surveys using remote sensing devices and field observations in dawn return to roost and dusk emergence surveys
- Tree surveys and supervised felling
- Preparation and obtaining of European Protected Species Licence applications
- Design and creation of mitigation habitat including the supply and installation of bat roost units and bat boxes
- Population monitoring to discharge planning and licensing requirements
