Bat Surveys

You may have been lucky enough to spot bats flying at sunset. One species of bats that live in Mindenhurst is the Common Pipistrelle. This is the smallest of the UK bats and are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. They have dark, golden-brown fur with a paler underside and a dark mask around the face.

They live in tree holes, bat boxes and sometimes roof spaces of houses, mainly feeding on flies and using echolocation to locate their prey. You will see them until October when they go into hibernation. Trees on site will be assessed from the ground by an ecologist to identify if there are any features on the tree that make it suitable to host a bat roost. Trees that are assessed as having suitability for a bat roost will have dusk and dawn surveys carried out on them to further assess if they contain a bat roost.

Sometimes when trees are tall, it is hard to assess the features from the ground. By climbing trees which are harder to assess from the ground, the ecologists can rule out trees that need to have further surveys carried out. From climbing a few trees, they are able to have a vantage point to assess other trees in the area.