Kingdom Ecology has considerable experience of working with bats. Projects have included assessments of small cottages up to large country houses and even 13th century castles.
Our staff hold conservation and scientific bat licences from Statutory Nature Conservation Organisations covering all of the UK. Assessments that we can offer include bat scoping surveys; nocturnal dusk and dawn roost surveys, hibernation surveys, bat activity surveys, harp trapping and mist netting surveys.
Our staff have held numerous Natural England and Natural Resources Wales European Protected Species Licences to allow developments to be sensitively carried out where they would otherwise impact upon protected bat roosts.
Our director, Richard Roe, has particular expertise working with bats. Richard has held numerous European Protected Species Licences and has held a personal bat survey licence since 2006. He currently holds a Class 4 Bat Survey Licence and holds a Bat Mitigation Class Licence. As well as providing consultancy services Richard is also a Natural England Volunteer Bat Roost Visitor and carries out regular research trips to study bat ecology and conservation in the UK and wider Europe.
Bat scoping surveys, or a preliminary bat survey, is an initial assessment of a structure completed by a licensed bat worker.
Bat scoping survey methodologies will follow the Bat Conservation Trust’s (BCT) 'Bat Survey Guidelines' . These guidelines require an initial daytime inspection to search for signs of roosting bats, to identify suitable bat roosting features and to also assess a building’s suitability as a whole to support roosting bats.
If the surveyed building is found to be unsuitable for bats, no further surveys will be necessary. However, if the building is found to support suitable bat roosting features which cannot be fully inspected during the daytime inspection, further nocturnal bat surveys may be required during the active bat season (May-September inclusive).
The need for and scope of further surveys can normally only be determined following the initial daytime survey.