Bats, bats, bats!!

Talk about cutting it fine. If you read our last post, or you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll know we found a bat in our barn a few weeks ago (common enough for a country barn). And we knew that we’d need to have a proper bat emergence survey to find out the extent of their roosts. But we found out last week that the ‘bat active season’ lasts until the end of September, which means we can only squeeze in one emergence survey before they hibernate. Many councils prefer you to have more, so we’re keeping fingers tightly crossed that we can progress with one for now, and make necessary arrangements during the build to protect and keep the bats we have, until the remaining surveys next year. 

Which comes onto the exciting part! Today’s initial ecology survey identified four bat species living around the site, and a potential fifth – all from the droppings left behind. We have pipistrelles (the smallest and most common bat in the UK), serotines (a larger species), and then lesser and greater horseshoe bats – which are rarer. The fifth was believed to be a medium-sized bat, but not identifiable. Our ecologist even managed to find a pipistrelle visible in the shed, and the lesser horseshoe bat hanging in the chimney of the Elizabethan cottage. While it’s not ideal to add extra cost and time to our project, we’re really pleased to be able to play our part in conserving this endangered species – and it’s lovely sitting out just before sunset and watch them fly around the site.  

The next step is to have a team of ecologists conduct the first emergence survey next week (weather permitting). Tea, coffee and cake at the ready!! 

If you’re interested – this link contains more information about UK bats… https://www.bats.org.uk/about-bats/what-are-bats/uk-bats