Bat Surveys in Scotland

The Wildlife Survey Unit are very experienced in providing bat surveys and advice to clients in relation to bats. We are licensed by SNH to undertake bat surveys across all counties of Scotland for roosts during the breeding season and during the hibernation season.

We regularly undertake bat surveys throughout Scotland, including the Highlands, Moray, Aberdeenshire, Argyll, Perthshire, Angus, Dumfries and Galloway, Orkney and the Central belt. We have a proven track record of obtaining EPS licences for works affecting roosts.

There are 18 bat species in Britain and all are legally protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and the Habitat Regulations 1994. Collectively these pieces of legislation mean that it is illegal to deliberately capture, injure or kill a bat or intentionally disturb an individual bat or group of bats or destroy a roost.

We offer a wide range of bat surveys, depending on the clients need, whether it be a survey of a residential property ahead of a planning application or whether it is a baseline surveys prior to an application for a proposed wind farm.

We offer the following services:
  • Preliminary Roost Assessment Survey - This survey identifies whether a bat roost is present, or whether the building has potential for bats to be present and is an initial survey. If no roosts are found and there is no potential for them to be present, no further surveys or mitigation would be required. If a roost is found, further emergence/re-entry surveys would be recommended prior to planning.
  • Bat Emergence/Re-entry Surveys - These surveys are for buildings identified as known roosts or potential roosts, and effectively counts the number and species of bat emerging or entering the building at dusk or dawn.
  • Bat Activity Surveys - transects for large scale developments, identifying commuting routes and key foraging areas for different species.
  • EPS licensing - preparation of applications, method statements and undertaking of monitoring surveys associated with developments where a roost is being affected.
  • ECoW - supervision of demolition, stripping of roofs, tree work by a licensed batworker as part of an SNH EPS licence.
  • Surveys for wind farms - including "at height" surveys
  • Hibernation Surveys - surveys of areas suitable for winter use by bats.
  • DNA analysis of bat droppings - to identify species when not present.
  • Bat call analysis - analysis of recorded calls to determine species and behaviour.

All standard survey methodologies follow those found in the Bat Conservation Trust's Bat Survey: Good Practice Guidelines 3rd Edition and the JNCC's Bat Workers Manual.
Useful links for more information:
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A Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) - hibernating
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Close up of bat droppings, similar to rodent droppings but dry and crumbly when crushed
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Characteristic dark staining around the entrance of a Natterer's bat roost
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Self-enclosed "bat tubes" built into a wall, part of a mitigation scheme for the loss of a roost under EPS licence