Will You Get a Bat Licence?
A bat licence is only issued when three legal tests are met: the work must serve a lawful purpose, there must be no reasonable alternative and bats must be left in favourable conservation status. This blog explains what these tests mean and how they affect your project.
What Does a Bat Licence Do?
Bat licences allow ecologists to carry out protected work safely and legally. This blog explains what personal licences, BLIMP and derogation licences mean, why your ecologist must hold one, and how the right licence helps your project move ahead without legal risk.
Why Do You Need Bat Surveys?
Bat surveys prevent delays, avoid costly work stoppages and protect you from legal risks if bats are present. Early surveys give you the certainty you need to plan your project confidently and meet all regulatory requirements.
How We Make Bat Surveys Easier for You
We make bat surveys straightforward by offering clear quotes, easy-to-understand reports and full support from the start of your project to the final steps. We guide you through planning and NatureScot requirements, helping you move forward with confidence.
Will Bat Surveys Delay My Proposed Works?
Bat surveys only cause delays when they are commissioned too late. By getting in touch early, we can plan surveys within the correct seasonal windows, meet your deadlines and keep your project running smoothly. If multiple surveys or licensing are needed, early planning ensures everything stays on track.
How to Make Surveys Easy for Your Ecologist
A smooth bat survey needs just a little preparation. Here are some simple steps keep your project on track and make the whole process much easier for everyone involved.
Our Strangest Bat Survey Discoveries
During bat surveys we often explore the hidden corners of buildings, from lofts to tight roof spaces. Along the way we sometimes come across unusual items that have nothing to do with ecology at all. From decades-old belongings to long-forgotten storage, these discoveries are simply part of the job. If you need a survey for roof or construction work, there’s no need to prepare before we arrive - we’ve seen it all before.
What Other Consents and Licences Do You Need?
Planning permission is the most well known consent for many of us, but it’s far from the only approval you may need when developing or extending your property. We’re going to take a look at a few of the common consents and licences you may need and how they work together, focusing on Scottish legislation.
If you take one message from this, let it be this: Even with planning permission, you may need additional consents such as building warrants, listed building consents, or protected species licences. It is always worth finding out what you will need as early in project planning as possible!
How to Check Your Bat Surveyors Credentials
We are frequently asked to help our clients resolve problems caused by sub-standard bat surveys. Sadly, as with many industries, it can be tricky to establish the bona fides of someone marketing their bat surveying services. Our founder, David Dodds, has some advice for spotting potential red flags from ecologist and ecology companies, and what to look for instead…
All About Bat Boxes
Where development or building works will result in a bat roost being destroyed (under licence - it’s illegal to disturb or destroy a bat roost without a licence) we can create artificial bat roosts as an alternative for the bats. By creating these compensatory roosting opportunities, we ensure your development complies with the law and local bat populations are able to carry on living as they would normally.
One of the ways we create a compensatory roost is by using bat boxes, but not all bat boxes are the same.
Bats and Scottish Architecture
Just as you can tell the difference between an Aberdonian street and one from the Scottish Borders, so do Scottish bats! The differences in materials, building techniques and structural features across Scotland have a considerable influence on the roosting opportunities for bats. While your house may break the regional mould, here are some trends we’ve spotted across Scotland and how they impact if bats will roost in your property…
Meet Scottish Bats
Scottish bats range from 5g pipistrelles, to Noctules with a 35cm wingspan. Here’s a quick introduction to the bats who call Scotland home!
Are Bats Pests or Pest Controllers?
Far from being a pest, bats are key pest controllers. For starters, they play a key role in reducing midge populations!
Bat surveys and planning for new developments
We are frequently asked how bat surveys will impact the planning process, so here’s a summary of the things you need to know. Of course, this is general advice - if you’d like our advice on your development or proposed site contact us on admin@daviddoddsassociates.com.
Successful bat mitigation for the Landmark Trust
It is absolutely possible to balance conserving architecture with conserving bat populations. The Landmark Trust is reopening Saddell Castle in September 2025 following successful bat mitigation and a complete renovation of the property.
How technology helps us understand bats
Bats can be hard to see, hard to hear, and hard to tell apart. We use a range of tech on every survey we do, and plenty more has been used to inform how we do bat surveys and the steps we take to help you when there’s a bat roost on your property.
Blind as a bat? debunking bat myths
‘Blind as a bat’ dates back to Aristotle, but is there any truth to this bat myth?
Bat roosts in trees
All Scottish bat species will use trees to roost. Identifying tree roosts can be challenging, especially in summer when leaves can make for tricky viewing. Fortunately, there are some features and signs we can use to identify roosts (and roost potential) when conducting tree surveys.
Why Are Hibernacula so important?
Over winter, many of our native mammals ‘power down’ and rest to conserve energy. For some, this is a reduction in activity and tendency towards staying in their shelters. For bats and hedgehogs (and dormice in the south of England) this is a huge physiological change, resulting in a dramatically reduced metabolism, with decreased body temperature, breathing and heart rates. This change is known as hibernation, and is a distinct adaptation to conserve energy.