Bat Survey - Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire
What do bats look for in roosts?
Stables ordinarily provide many roosting opportunities for bats - they are shelters that are designed to be safe, stable environments for animals, and, as animals, this is exactly the kind of environment bats seek out when they are looking for suitable roosts. Farms, particularly those with hedgerows, provide good connectivity to good foraging habitats. As such, we are usually optimistic about finding a bat roost when we head off to inspect stables.
Survey Findings
These stables were a little different, however. They were constructed with modern materials - breezeblock walls and corrugated metal roofing sheets. The roof also had sheets of clear plastic that acted as skylights, meaning the interior of the stables were very well lit, which is less that ideal for nocturnal creatures.
There were plenty of access points bats could use to enter the stables, with large gaps between the tops of walls and the edge of the roofing sheets, but we couldn't find any areas in which bats would roost, such as gaps in the walls, or gaps between structural supports and the walls and roof. This led us to the conclusion that bats could get into the building, but couldn't use it as a roost, so why would they bother getting in?
Consequently, we deemed these stables as having negligible roosting potential, and did not recommend any further surveys, saving the client time and money.
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