Posts Tagged ‘pipistrelle bat’
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
An article has been published on the Inpractice website which gives guidance to veterinarians on the care of British bats. Bats are often taken in to care by members of the public or volunteer bat workers.
Some of the common injuries found in bats are when domestic cats attack bats. Cats will wait outside the bat roost entrance and then attack bats as they leave the roost. The injuries associated with this are often torn wings and punctures. The wings of an injured bat will sometimes heal naturally other more serious injuries may result in death or unfortunately euthanasia.
Bats are also often injured by members of the public when they discover bats in their houses and try to catch them. The types of injuries found are on the bat are often broken wings and legs form being handled too roughly. A bat with broken legs cannot roost, feed or clean itself and will die without intervention.
If bats are found in the home or injured the best thing to do is call the bat conservation trust who will arrange for a bat worker to come and collect the bat and take it to get appropriate care.
The bat conservation trust helpline number is 0845 1300 228
Click on the link below for a pdf of the full article
http://inpractice.bmj.com/content/32/6/254.full.pdf
Tags: bat care, bat helpline, bat injuries, bat roost, bats, brown long eared bat, daubentons bats, injured bat, natterers bat, pipistrelle bat, veterinarian
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Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Well it’s been a long cold winter and we’ve all had a good rest but spring is just around the corner and we are gearing up for another busy year. Here are a few of the projects we are currently working on.
Cheshire: bats and great crested newts
We are currently in the planning stages of a large project in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The plans involve bat surveys (some of which we did last year), European protected species licensing, the planning and construction of a large bat barn prior to the start of development. Brown long eared bats, pipistrelles and myotis species were found during the bat surveys so the barn will be designed with these species in mind. The roost which is in place is currently being monitored using an anabat remote bat detector and several dataloggers to record temperature and humidity data. Whiskered bats and Brandt’s bats are present at the bat barns which were built for Manchester airport, only a few miles away. The project also requires great crested newt surveys on ponds in and around the site footprint. If great crested newts are found then a mitigation plan will have to be designed and an EPS licence application submitted to Natural England.
Merseyside: bats, great crested newts, water vole, barn owls
A golf course development on Merseyside which United Environmental Services were involved in last year still has work to be done as a condition of the licence. This will involve de-silting the ponds to improve their quality for great crested newts, and amphibians in general. The fitting of a large number of bat boxes around the site. The fitting of a number of bird boxes. Management of the woodlands. Management of the watercourse which has water voles resident. As a result of the great crested newt trapping scheme last year the on site ponds must also be monitored for the next 5 years.
Cambridgeshire: great crested newts, bats, reptiles and red kites
We also have great crested newt monitoring contracts at a site in Cambridgeshire not far from Stamford in Lincolnshire. The site was trapped out in 2008 and over 500 great crested newts relocated to new ponds. The site is rich in many species of wildlife and sits next to a SSSI woodland. Red kites are nesting close to the site and can often be seen hunting close by. Several species of reptiles were found during the trapping including, grass snake, slow worm and common lizard.
Staffordshire: bat monitoring
Bat monitoring is ongoing at the site of a former mill in Tunstall near Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire after a small number of pipistrelle bats were found to be using one of the buildings prior to demolition. Monitoring work will carry on until the new buildings have been built with replacement bat roosts built into the fabric of the buildings.
Tags: anabat, bat barn, bat roost, bat survey, brandts bats, brown long eared bat, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, dataloggers, european protected species licence, great crested newt, Manchester airport, Merseyside, monitoring, Natural England, pipistrelle bat, remote bat detector, Staffordshire, whiskered bats
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Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Flexibility
Defra have announced that Natural England will be granted more flexible powers to enforce breaches of wildlife legislation. The legislation applies to certain protected species such as the great crested newt, water vole, badgers and natterjack toads. The legislation also applies to all of our resident bat species.
Formerley Natural England had only three options available, these were
- issue of warning letters
- issue of caution
- full criminal prosecution
New powers
Under the new powers regulators will be able to match the strength of the sanction to the seriousness of the offence and also:
- Halt illegal activities
- order the restoration of environmental damage
- impose fines where legislation has been breached
Further information can be found on Natural Englands website by following the link below
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/about_us/news/2010/030210.aspx
Tags: brandts bats, daubentons bats, enforcement powers, european protected species licence, great crested newt, greater horseshoe bats, legislation changes, leislers bats, lesser horseshoe bat, natterers bat, Natural England, noctule bat, pipistrelle bat, serotine bats, United Environmental Services, Water vole, whiskered bats, wildlife legislation
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Sunday, January 31st, 2010
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Inspecting beeston castle caves for hibernating bats
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natterers bat hibernating in the caves
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Schwegler bat box fitting in the snow
Cheshire bat group have visited Beeston Castle in Cheshire to inspect the caves for hibernating bats and and to fit bat boxes onto the trees surrounding the castle. The bat group are working with English Heritage at the site to make improvements to the quality of the habitat surrounding the castle. Stewart from United environmental services helped out with the tree climbing and bat box installation
The castle supports a colony of natterers bats as well as noctules and pipistrelles. The different bat species all use different areas and features of the monument and its grounds in different ways, and at different times of year.
The caves were man made and the walls are very smooth with few faults which can support hibernating bats. An inspection of the caves by the bat group revealed a single hibernating natterers bat tucked into a small fault in the rock. Herald moths were also seen in the caves and are considered an indicator of conditions suitable for hibernating bats.
Fitting the bat boxes into the trees proved an arduous task as on the day it was snowing quite heavily. The bat group did manage to fit 18 boxes into the trees with a further 12 boxes to be placed in the trees and 4 to be fitted in the caves at a later date.
Tags: Bat box, bat roost, Beeston Castle, Cheshire, English Heritage, natterers bat, noctule bat, pipistrelle bat, tree climbing
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Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Bat Hibernation boxes are fitted high in trees and this one was no exception.This mature beech tree was chosen because of its size location and stability. Ropes were set up by Mike in order to climb the tree and then a small pulley was placed above the planned position of the hibernation box. Stewart then climbed the tree using the ropes. The pulley was tested for safety and then the bracket was nailed into position. The hibernation box which weighs 30kg was then hoisted up by Mike and Toby and hung in its final position roughly eight metres above the ground.
We hope to find noctule bats using this box next year as they were observed feeding very close by during a survey last summer. Soprano pipistrelles and Brown long eared bats were also recorded at the time and pipistrelles may well use the box when they find it. It is always a good approach to install extra bat roosts around any development even if no bats are to be affected by it. This can help all species of bats as they require many different roosts at different times of the year.
We also fitted hibernation boxes into the walls of the extension. And fitted bat access tiles into the new roof to allow access to the void beneath the tiles for crevice dwelling bats such as pipistrelles.
Stewart.
Tags: bat access tiles, Bat box, bat hibernation box, bat roost, brandts bats, brown long eared bat, Cheshire, mitigation, natterers bat, noctule bat, pipistrelle bat, Schwegler, tree climbing, whiskered bats
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Saturday, May 9th, 2009
UES were commisioned for an extended phase 1 habitat survey of a site north of Porthmadog. The desk study and record search revealed no records on the site, but did have several records of Lesser horseshoe bats within 1km of the site boundary.
The site itself both from the record search and from aerial photography looked fairly unremarkable as it was in a packet of land between a busy road and a railway line and had two distinct habitat types. The western end of site was high ground with lots of exposed rock. The variety of flora present suggested it was a species rich grassland as did the numerous ant mounds made by yellow meadow ants (lasius flavus). Several bird species were heard and seen around the site area including Wheatear, Grasshopper warbler and willow warbler. The eastern half of the site was marshy grassland dominated by soft rush, with an artificial drainage channel cutting through it from north to south. There were no rocks or raised areas in the watercourse and it was very smooth and uniform on the bottom suggesting that it had been quite recently cleared. The water was around 1m deep and running slowly from south to north. Toby checked the watercourse for signs of watervole and was surprised to find several latrines and burrows along the banks of the drain. The sites were recorded with GPS references and photographs. The CCW (Countryside Council for Wales) and local record centre (COFNOD) were notified as was the developer. The water vole is now fully protected under Section 9 of The Wildlife and Countryside act 1981 (as amended) which makes illegal any action which might
- Intentionally kill, injure or take water voles
- posess or control live or dead water voles or their derivatives
- Intentionally or recklessly damage destroy or obstruct access to any structure or place used by water voles
The developer was initially annoyed because of the affect the find would have on the project. But realised that the survey which had taken place very early in the planning stages of the development, had saved the company money in the long run.
The early survey had allowed them to properly assess the cost of the development before the start of work, rather than finding the water voles mid-project, and having to stop work redesign the plans and potentially have damaged or destroyed the habitat of a species which is already in serious decline.
Tags: bat roost, Cheshire, european protected species licence, greater horseshoe bats, lesser horseshoe bat, North Wales, phase 1 habitat survey, pipistrelle bat, Porthmadog, Protected species, United Environmental Services, Water vole
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