Linton, Ross-on-Wye
CSa Input: Protected species and habitat surveys, bat mitigation measures
Date: 2005-present
Client: Private Client
A series of bat surveys of this large stone barn and associated structures revealed the presence of a maternity roost for natterer’s bats and roosting by a small number of brown long-eared bats. Significant mitigation was required to overcome the constraint that these findings presented. A mitigation approach was devised and a European Protected Species licence obtained. This involved the retention of an area within the barn for the bats. This area forms a dedicated bat roosting area and has been designed and fitted with a range of features to encourage bat roosting, as well as retaining existing crevices and access points. A complex bat exclusion exercise was then completed on the remainder of the barn to ensure that bats were not present when works took place.
Whilst development of this barn has been deliberately slow and painstaking and therefore continues to the present day, annual monitoring shows that bats are using the mitigation area and the features created within it. The site remains an important location for several species of bat.
