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Bat Surveys: Licensed Expertise & Mitigation.

Providing licensed roost assessments and activity surveys to identify ecological constraints and secure necessary mitigation for your planning application.
E3 Ecology.

Expert bat surveys for environmental legal standards.

There are 18 species of bats in the UK, all of which are protected under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations (2017) and the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981, as amended). It is an offence to kill, injure or disturb a bat or destroy, damage or obstruct a bat roost, even at times when bats aren’t present.

It is crucial to consider bats as part of the planning process and planning permission will not generally be granted without thorough survey and assessment. If your proposal will affect buildings, structures or trees, it is essential that these are assessed for roosting bats. In many cases, an assessment of bats’ use of land to be developed will also be required, particularly where large areas of habitat or high value habitat will be lost.

If bats or bat roosts are present on the site and may be impacted, after planning permission has been granted, a licence would normally be required which permits activities that would otherwise be illegal. Up to date survey information is also required to inform licence applications with Natural England, NatureScot or other Statutory Nature Conservation Organisations (SNCOs).

There are several types of bat surveys which E3 Ecology can complete in order to meet different survey objectives. These are described below.

What do bat surveys involve?

Preliminary Roost Assessment

(Also called a bat risk assessment), during which an ecologist will inspect the structure or tree to determine its suitability to roosting bats.

If access is available, this will also include a detailed internal inspection (if applicable). This survey searches for evidence of bats, but also assesses the suitability as either negligible, low, moderate or high suitability, which then determines how many bat presence/absence surveys may be required.

If potential roosting features or evidence of bats is recorded, further bat presence/absence surveys will generally be required.

These surveys are completed at dusk or, to a lesser extent, dawn, with a sufficient number of surveyors equipped with detectors and night vision aids surrounding the building/structure/tree, in order to observe any bats emerging from or returning to roosts.

This survey involves inspection of the tree from ground level with a high-powered torch and binoculars by trained surveyors, searching for features which may be used by bats as roosts, such as woodpecker holes or rotting cavities and crevices.

In some circumstances, this is sufficient to establish that there is a negligible risk of bats roosting within the tree. If potential roosting features are identified, further survey such as aerial tree inspections or bat presence/absence surveys may be required.

If trees have been assessed from the ground as containing potential suitability for roosting bats, our trained and licensed tree climbers can closely inspect the potential roosting features to assess potential bat use.

For some sites, bat activity surveys may be recommended. This comprises transect surveys whereby surveyors walk a fixed route over the survey area at dusk or dawn, monitoring bat activity using bat detectors.

Remote monitoring is also undertaken via the deployment of bat detectors in fixed locations on site to record nightly bat acoustic data over a monitoring period.

Where bat hibernation potential is present within a building/structure, an assessment of whether bats are using the site to hibernate may be required.

Methods to assess bat activity within a structure during winter includes remote monitoring surveys of acoustic data and visual inspections.

Following survey work, we will provide a high quality report outlining the results of the survey work, an impact assessment and mitigation strategy.

Where bat roosts are present, a mitigation licence will be required. We can prepare various types of licence applications, as well as supervision of licensable works. More details can be found on the licensing page.

When can bat surveys be carried out?

Bat surveys are often time constrained to key periods when bats are active. If you think you may need a bat survey, please get in touch as soon as possible to avoid delays. Key survey timings are as follows:

  • Preliminary roost assessment: Any time of year
  • Bat presence/absence surveys:  May – September
  • Bat hibernation surveys: November to March
  • Bat activity surveys: April – September/October
Our Survey Calendar Guide

How Can E3 Ecology Help?

The E3 Ecology team includes licensed bat surveyors with extensive bat survey experience on a range of projects. We hold licences for England and Scotland and can carry out a range of standard and bespoke surveys. Our team of trained tree climbers can carry out aerial assessment for bat roosts in trees and our large team of trained assistant bat surveyors allows us to easily cover large sites for bat presence/absence surveys.

The team also have broad-ranging experience of designing mitigation and compensation for bats as well as production of mitigation licence applications. We can guide you through the licence process and provide supervision of licensable works. Our team also includes a registered consultant for low impact bat licences.

From small house extensions to large scale housing, minerals, road or power schemes, assessing the bat use of a site can be essential. E3 will tailor the extent and type of survey to the site and the development proposals, ensuring a cost-effective, pragmatic approach and early identification of key constraints.

If you think you require or have been asked for a bat survey, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will be happy to help.

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