Bat Survey - Old Sodbury, Bristol
Background
This was a slightly different project for us - for one, it was part of a multi-staged development, and secondly, it was for Natural England, not Natural Resources Wales. Although we are based in South-West Wales, we do venture east to our neighbouring country, bringing our expertise and equipment with us!
There were two buildings on this plot of farmland that the owners wanted to alter, the farmhouse, and a bungalow, each requiring separate planning permissions.
Scoping Survey
During our Preliminary Roost Assessment (PRA), we found bat droppings in the loft spaces of both buildings - brown long-eared droppings in both buildings, and serotine droppings in the farmhouse only. This meant that both buildings were confirmed bat roosts, which meant that they both needed Protected Species licences that, while separate, were going to be intrinsically linked.
Evening Surveys
We conducted emergence surveys on both properties, and while we saw no bats emerging from the bungalow, we got more than we expected from the farmhouse - the brown long-eareds and serotines that the droppings already told us we were there, plus a common pipistrelle and a Myotis species (*note - Myotis species are very difficult to distinguish from sound analysis alone as their calls are very similar). This highlights the importance of emergence surveys even when the property has already been confirmed as a bat roost - we were able to confirm additional species of bat, discover where they were getting into the property, and get an estimate of the number of bats roosting in the property!
Next Steps - What do you do if you have bats?
This is where it gets a little more complicated. The plans were to demolish the bungalow and build an entirely new building on the land, which would obviously destroy the bat roost in the loft. On the farmhouse, a complete re-roofing and extensions were proposed, which would block up all access points identified in the emergence surveys, destroying that roost as well. The mitigation we proposed for this property was focused solely on the farmhouse, moving both roosts to the one building. This is why the licence applications had to be linked - the replacement roost to compensate for the loss of the roost in the bungalow was to be installed in the farmhouse.
This project involved roosts for a lot of species. As such, our mitigation reflected that - we recommended 4 ridge tile gaps (carved out gaps under ridge tiles that bats can crawl under to roost) and 4 panel roosts (boxes that are specifically designed to fit between roof beams that bats can crawl into to roost), which was more than enough to give each species that call this farm a home a safe place to settle down and roost when they return here.
We will be heading back in 2026 to see how the bats are settling into their new homes!
Have you been asked for a bat survey? Contact us to see how we can help, no matter where you are located, or fill out our online form to get a quote!
