What is a Bat Survey?
Bat surveys in Scotland happen in two stages. A Daytime Bat Walkover and a Presence/Absence survey.
Do Bats Stop Developments?
Bats are often seen as a potential roadblock for developments, demolitions, and renovations. Fortunately, this isn’t the case. With proper planning, and early consultations with a specialist ecologist, your project can proceed and stay compliant with UK law on bats.
How do bats choose their roosts?
Understanding how and where bats choose to roost is crucial for both development and renovation projects and for conservation efforts. The 10 bat species recorded in Scotland all have their own preferences for roosting sites, shaped by their ecological niche, physical adaptations and the balance of conditions needed for their survival and reproduction.
What is a conditioned bat survey?
In 2006, the Scottish Executive issued a directive to local planning authorities, outlining the illegality of granting planning consent at sites requiring bat surveys before those surveys were completed. This led to a widespread halt in issuing such consents.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift, with local authorities increasingly issuing planning consents conditioned on the completion of bat surveys.
Bats in Buildings
Scotland is home to ten species of bat, and many of these choose to roost in buildings at least part of the time. Each species has its own preferences, from the habitats they frequent to the insects they hunt and the types of buildings and structures they like to use for roosting.
Bat Survey FAQs - Part 2
Here’s the next instalment of our Bat Survey FAQs! If you’ve got a question we haven’t answered you can contact us anytime and we will be happy to help you out!
Bat Survey FAQs: Part 1
No matter what kind of property you are developing or renovating, there are several questions we get time and time again. To help your proposed works go smoothly, here’s the answer to five of our most asked questions…
What will your bat survey find?
To help you prepare for your survey findings we’ve looked at our previous surveys at 133 sites, split into rural and urban/suburban locations. Let’s start by looking at the surveys you might need…
10 Ways to avoid bat survey problems in your development
We are often asked to help people who have found themselves in difficulties with planning or licensing their development, but the best way we can support you is making sure you don’t have problems from the beginning!
Why can’t you just clear out the bats?
If you’ve searched “get rid of a bat roost” or a similar phrase, you may have come across resources from North America about the logistics of removing bats from your home - in the UK it’s a little bit different.
4 Bat Survey Questions Asked and Answered
The last thing you want when you’re planning a renovation or development project is an unexpected delay or cost. To make sure you’re not caught out, here are your top 5 bat survey questions asked and answered!